Just One More Dog

Archive for December, 2009

Today Hazel got her splint off. Of course, it was replaced with something else … a cone. The poor girl has this cone on her head to keep her from chewing at her stitches and her foot. Also, Hazel has been put on cage rest. She has to not move around too much which means out of her crate to go to the bathroom and then back into her crate. If she is out of her crate when I am home she has to stay laying down and mellow.

Did I mention that she is only 2.5 months old? Yikes!

So, the hunt is on for things to entertain a puppy and keep her mind active. Once she has settled in I will take some pictures of her stitches, her leg and her cute face framed by a plastic cone!

Hazel is back from the Vet. I picked her up on Christmas Day. She seems to steal the hearts of all those who meet her. Because I didn’t want to leave her alone, not knowing how her pain would be, I brought her with me to our Christmas dinner. She was really good meeting everyone and ended up crashed between my legs as we all sat around. At dinner she slept under the table at my feet. We were up a few times last night for bathroom breaks due to her bladder infection but her pain seems to be getting better with each passing moment.

When we are outside she holds her paw up and runs on her other three feet. Even when I try to keep her mellow, when she is outside she is just happy! I ended up kicking Whitley and the other dog visiting me downstairs with bones to chew on so that Hazel could have time out of her crate without me worrying that she would start getting too excited with the other dogs. She played, chewed on a bone and some toys and then crashed on the couch for a bit.

I take her back to the Vet on Wednesday so that they can remove the splint and see how she is healing. Then again the week after so that they can check her bladder infection. It will be interesting to see what she is really like when she is fully healed and healthy – she is playful and fun now, so I can only imagine how much better she will be.

Hazel was dropped off with me this afternoon. As I was still at work, I brought her inside with me and she proceeded to curl up at my feet and fall asleep. When it was time to head home she got into her crate with no issues. Once home, it was out into the backyard where she did all her “duties” before coming inside.

Once inside she looked around, saw the toys, checked out the water and I fed her a small bit of food while Whitley was out on her walk. She was able to play and nap and play some more. When Whitley got home she greeted her with a wagging tail – running outside after Whitley and learning to go pee when her big foster sister does. Lots of praise and the thumbs up sign to show Hazel that she is doing a good job.I am going to have to get another dog pillow though as they both like Whitley’s and Whitley won’t lay on it with her – yet.

Hazel seems to get around just fine even though her foot is gimpy. It looks more painful to watch her than it is for her – since she was tearing around the house and the backyard like a “normal” dog. Tomorrow is her surgery. I am glad she is here tonight so that she knows me once she comes back here.

At the moment the dogs are sleeping – Hazel in her crate and Whitley on her pillow.

After a lot of thought and consideration, I decided to open my house up to dogs in need by fostering for the Animal Rescue Foundation [ARF] I got a phone call today about a sweet little girl who had caught my eye on the adoption page, she has a gimpy paw and will be in need of some TLC before going to her forever home. It’s crazy that she will be the first foster in my house as she is the first one I kept going back to look at.

Tomorrow is the big day, at least for her and me. She will be coming to my house, to be introduced to my dog, Whitley Magnolia – she is quite a Southern Belle even though she has never been to the South – and get settled before going for an operation on Wednesday to fix her paw. No pictures at the moment, that will be tomorrow, so for now, I will leave you a picture of Whitley – who will make the fosters visiting us feel right at home.