Ember's Friday

 

This is the front of the house, as the workmen left for the day.  They will not be working the weekend, and we have potential for precipitation both on the weekend and into next week.  We shall see how that impacts the work.

Ember slept nearly all-day Friday.  Enough to make me ponder whether the digestive issues were draining her, or if, perhaps, the whacky schedule (biological) has flipped her to a nocturnal pup.

She got up about 4 p.m., and we slipped her harness on (not as much a problem as it was in the morning.  We went walking and the major issue was that she picked up a beer bottle cap, and was having none of mommy's "spit it out", "show me what you have in your mouth", etc.  Eventually, she did release it enough for me to snatch it up.  And we cut the walk short and came home.

I left the harness on her, anticipating that we'd go for another walk after I had my supper, and we did.  She delivered a soft-serve poo on the walk.

Then the little demon puppy came out when we returned to the back yard.  I took everything but her collar off and tossed her tennis balls and holey roller for her.  She hadn't seen them since the work crew showed up on Monday, so they were new and exciting.  She went back into the den for me to come brush my teeth and get ready for bed.  I don't know if I'll start the night out "staying up" with her or not.

I went downstairs about 7:15, took her out for play, and there was the demon puppy, wanting to play tug with my jeans, my sweatshirt, my ankles, my shoelaces.  Patience, Barb, patience!  I brought her back inside, fed her what was left in her supper dish, plus her Metronidizole covered in peanut butter (so far that's worked), and just for good measure gave her a couple teaspoons of Kaopecktate on the lickimat, because the last pooh was soft and I hope to keep her crated overnight.

Which reminds me, they sent her rabies vaccination tag home from the vet, I need to get that onto her collar.

Saturday morning report

The little one slept through from 10:20 p.m. potty break to sometime around 3:30 a.m. when mom was up to feed the cat and start the day.  

Speaking of The Prisoner, he was quite bold this morning.  He had been inside for the night with his supper, asked to leave the basement, and trotted confidently to and out the back door.  Then as soon as I filled his breakfast dish, he followed me back inside and down to his suite, without being bothered by Ember in her den along his path.  They are working this whole thing out.

I fed Ember her breakfast, and worked on not reacting to her ankle nips or shoe nibbles, except to stop in my tracks, and softly tell her Mommy does not play that game.  And I put the food away until she calmed down.  It worked pretty well this morning.  We shall see how it progresses.

When I took myself to the bathroom for my own needs, the trouble began.  I heard a chair scraping in the dining room, said "Uh-oh!" but had to finish what I was doing.  When I got out, I discovered that in fact, she had figured out how to use a chair as a step-stool to get up ON THE DINING ROOM TABLE.  Unfortunately, I have been using that as "high ground" to put things I was keeping from her.

Time to up the puppy proofing game again.  Emmy had got hold of one of the pillows I use on the couch when I sleep down here with her.  I drew the line there, and into the den she went while I cleaned up.  Pillows into a closed room.clean up chemicals onto the kitchen counter (just a fraction higher, but higher), and toybox to the center.  

The big girl leash got moved to a spot closer to the front door, on a shelf.  Some hats and gloves got put away in the closet.  And the table cloth was changed.

The one casualty of this morning's adventure was the gardening glove she buried a few weeks ago.  I had rescued it and it had been on the table.  I decided she could keep that trophy.  So it is now an Ember toy.

  

When I let her out of her den, I snapped on her "new" collar, the one with the rabies tag now attached.

At about 6 a.m. Ember sat at the front door, and we got her harness on for a "big girl walk", without major issues.  It was quiet at 6:14 when we started out.  The wind was starting to come up, so lots of things being blown:  flags flapping, the occasional garbage bin lid bumping.  But there were people only in the distance or in their cars.  Dogs were in their fenced yards, or with their own person, walking a distance away.  A quiet "good girl" walk with few distractions.  I crossed the street and let her sniff the other side, where she hadn't been before.  

When we got back, I put on the Dog TV music and she's snoozing on the couch as I type this.

Life is good!  Spark on.