Holiday at Home with the Pups

Eric and I spent the weekend in some much-needed relaxation and time at home on the couch with the animals. The quarter is over and my grades are all submitted and Eric has been working hard at work on a number of projects. I think we’ve both been a bit burned out and decided to take a stay-at-home vacation. Usually when we do this, we binge on some TV show that we watch together, but this time, I’ve been watching really crappy TV (perfect for a tired brain!) and Eric’s been playing the Xbox. We’ve been cooking together and taking the dogs for walks and talking and laughing and it’s been so nice. The other night, we made homemade applesauce and potato latkes. So good! I love latkes and we rarely, if ever, make them. Last night I made rajma (an Indian kidney bean stew) with some naan from the store. I’ll post that recipe soon—It was so easy and delicious. Tonight, Eric’s mom and her husband are coming over for dinner and I’m thinking about making a vegetable pot pie, some brussel sprouts, maybe a salad and gingerbread. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to make some cinnamon pull-apart bread in honor of Christmas. Good food, good company and some time away from the world is just what we’ve been needing!

But enough about our lazy weekend…an overdue update on Saoirse and Maizy! If you missed the story of Maizy having to have surgery to have her dewclaw removed, read it here. It was a tough first week after the surgery and Maizy had to wear a bag on her foot to protect her bandage and, even so, her bandage ended up sliding down and getting pretty gnarly. We were so relieved when we were able to take her in to the vet to have it removed. Then there was the stress of keeping her sutures clean and wondering if the skin around her sutures looked too red or swollen, etc. Luckily, now Maizy should be in the clear. I just got back from taking her to have her sutures removed and she was pretty happy. She’s been in good spirits for the last week or so and has been eager to get back to playing.

Still, we’ve been taking it pretty slow and we have been trying to be very careful of her suture site. Now that the stitches are out, though, Maizy knows that there is very little to hold her back from being her usual crazy, playful self. And I bet she can’t wait to get back to the dog park, but I think we’re still a couple weeks out from that.

To celebrate, we had a pretty big play session with Saoirse when we got home from the vet this morning. Photographing them when they are on the move is really hard—Saoirse especially. I’ve taken hundreds of pictures of her that are just a reddish-brown blur!

If you’re not caught up on Saoirse’s story, you can read about bringing Saoirse home, her initial adjustments, and her bonding with Maizy. She continues to settle in and adjust to being with us. She has grown so close to both Eric and me now and is genuinely happy to see both of us when we come home and she rarely gets frightened by things we do. She is becoming more confident on our walks and bounds around on her leash when we walk around the neighborhood. She’s still not a fan of the UPS truck (she just can’t understand why anyone would make anything so evil and scary as a big, loud truck that carries big, scary boxes!). She’s been a bit better about going to the bathroom outside instead of in the house, though we’re still having the occasional accident. Things are going well over all and it feels like she’s made huge progress! 

The last week or so has been difficult for her because my dad was visiting us and she had a lot of trouble getting used to him and his noises. She pretty much spent most of the week in her safe spot—the couch—watching him from afar. And she occasionally even barked and growled at him, which was the first time I heard her bark and I have to admit, it’s pretty cute. We’re hoping visitors will get easier for her as time goes on and so we’re continuing to expose her to people other than us even though it is scary for her. She has her safe spots (the couch and the bed) and hopefully this exposure to people will help her realize that humans are not going to hurt her.

I hope that you all are getting some time off work to spend with the humans and animals you love and that you have a restful break with good food and no stress!

Follow