Category: Golightly Dogs

Little Maddie Mulligan has had a rough weekend.  If you follow me on Twitter or FaceBook, this is old news, and I apologize for repeating myself.  Here's the story.

Late Saturday afternoon Neal heard Maddie give a yelp.  This isn't unusual as she and Tilly rough house quite a bit as they romp in the yard.  A few minutes later, she sat on the deck in the snow, waiting to be let in.  Not long after, Neal took the big girls on their walk while I attended to Coco.  Maddie wasn't that into her walk, so Neal cut it short.

As Maddie lay curled up on the living room rug, I noticed she was licking her side.  Maddie tends toward compulsive behaviors, and I like to check them out when I see them.  Lo!  What I found was a raw spot about the size of a half dollar.  Neal had the good sense to bring her to the vet's.  Our usual vet's office was closed, and we couldn't get through to their phone service.  Luckily, just down the hill from us is another veterinarian office, and Neal brought her there.  I honestly thought this was a surface wound, just in need of a little topical or dressing.

My heart sank when Neal came home alone.  They said it was a deep puncture wound and wanted to put in a drain and stitch her up.  As best we can figure, the 14" or so of snow raised the ground enough to make Maddie's usually running paths more difficult to get around, and she must have plowed into a stick or branch that she would duck normally.

We got a call after her surgery to let us know she was waking up, and another call this morning.  I nearly fainted when I heard Neal's voice, shocked, ask the vet to repeat the size of the puncture.  I knew it must be bad; he doesn't shock easily. 

Six inches, people.  Six. Inches.

We are so very fortunate that it missed any organs.  So lucky that Neal decided she needed a trip to the vet's, thereby avoiding infection.  So lucky.

I got to see my girl this afternoon.  She was groggy, but happy to see me.  After a little walk and a treat (vet approved), we brought her back in.  She seemed pretty tired and ready to go back to her crate.  I'll call tomorrow to see if she can come home.  We have to wait until the drain comes out, and then she'll have to wear a collar, which will make her miserable.

Maddie not having a more serious accident is my best gift this year.  I feel so very lucky.

Other than the occasional accident, she’s a dream to have around.  The big girls still aren’t convinced about her, but I think once Coco can run around more (her belly is healing from her spaying surgery on Friday), they’ll start to like her better.  Me?  I like her just fine.

Meet Coco Chanel, fondly known as Coco.  She’s a four-pound lap warmer who came home with us on the advice of our friend who is a dog trainer.  Her eyes are not green and demonesque, but I couldn’t straighten that out.  Tilly is mothering her, as we thought she would, and Maddie vacillates between amusement, jealousy, and depression.  We did manage to seat our family of five on the chair and footstool in my office and have everyone get along, so I have high hopes for a harmonious future in our household.

I’m still giddy over Tuesday’s results.  Not-Blogless-for-long Spring and I went to NYC on Wednesday, and there were lots of happy folks with Obama pins on their jackets.  Nicholas Kristof captured what may be my main reason for joy in his op-ed piece in today’s Times.   It’s about time we moved away from sound bites towards real, robust, meaningful statements.

Coco is snoozing away as I write.  Pretty soon I have to get up to do my pushups, but I’ll find another way to amuse myself for a few moments longer.  Maybe looking for couture dog sweater patterns will do the trick!

She looks so sweet and innocent.  She was a pup in this picture, but the look is the same.  You’d never suspect the grief and sorrow she has caused her mama.

We use an electric fence in our back yard to allow the dogs a bit of freedom.  One or the other of us keeps an eye peeled, but it only takes a split second to lose track of a dog. I spent two and a half hours searching for Maddie, including traipsing through my neighbors’ back yards, walking down all the streets around us, slipping on the icy paths of the nature preserve.  Neal was ready to come home from work after my teary call to him. 

Finally, finally, I heard her bark.  I found her in the front yard of R.J. the cat’s house.  I think R.J. may have led Maddie on a wild chase; Maddie had perfumed herself with some sort of nastiness.

I snapped her leash on and walked her home.  After a quick call to Neal (yes, sobbing so hard I couldn’t speak was a part of it), I prepared the bathroom for a bath.  Maddie was tolerant of her bath, and I was starting to relax.

Then, as I dried her, she stepped on my left little piggy.  The broken one.  Bottle rocket zambino!  The tape and ice had been helping, but I think there are still a few of those cartoon birds whirling around my head.

Want to know what I did learn, though?  Even with a broken toe, I can run if it means getting to my little lovey before she gets hurt.  That’s good to know.

I’m going to try to find a way to quiet myself down after such a big, scary adventure.  Yarn and some needles might help, don’t you think?

"Why, thank you for remembering," says the pup when congratulated on her fifth birthday.  Tilly is one of the most special dogs in the world (I know, most dog lovers will say that about their own dogs, but it’s really true in this case).  I swear she’s an empath, and she also has a super funny sense of humor.  I wish I could get a picture of her laughing–it would crack you up to see!

Happy Birthday, lovey!

There was potential for darkness today.  I wanted to visit one of my favorite bloggers while she’s in the U.S., but my schedule just doesn’t allow it.  I know, though, that we’ll meet up some day, and I’m secretly hoping that it will mean a trip to Germany in my future.

I just called the dogs in (I typed gods, first, but, alas, the gods don’t come in when I call), and when Maddie bounded onto the deck, I sang out, in my loudest of loud voices, "Here she comes, Miss America…"  Then I sort of remembered that I have neighbors who might wonder at that burst of music.  I rounded up the girls, got them inside, and I laughed at myself.  Darkness dispelled by silliness. 

What silly things do you find yourself doing?

Click on this picture.  Go ahead, I’ll wait for you.

Yup.  The figure on the right?  A bear.  The figure crouched in front of it?  Maddie, the cat-dog, so named because this mutt used her third life on Thursday as she would not stand down from chasing this bear out of our back yard.  Tilly (seen on the far left) came back to the deck when Neal called, but Maddie?  Well, she’s in her own little world when it comes to listening as my pal blogless Kim can testify (yes, Maddie used up life #2 when she ran away from us in the woods and crossed the BUSY street in front of the house to curl up and rest on the deck.  By. Her. Self.).

My first bear sighting was so exciting that I couldn’t hold still for about an hour.  The only problem?  Now that I’ve seen how big they are live and in person, I’m not looking forward to my next sighting!

Kudos to Scout for her Knitty Gritty show!  JessaLu is burning me a copy from her TiVo, and I cannot wait to see my girly on tv!

I’m making decent progress on the Wedding Shawl.  I’ve got six repeats done with hopes of tackling number seven after my continuing ed class tonight.  On Monday I managed to knit a repeat in 2.5 hours, which is a big improvement over my 3-3.5 hour average.  It helps to be well rested and to not talk to anyone while I do this. 

I’m off to write a quiz and then take the mutts on a long walk.  I’ll let you know if I meet up with any more bears!

Maddie turns three today.  I can’t believe she’s been in my life for nearly that long.  It may sound silly to non-pet people, but she really has made my life so much better.

There’s another birthday girl in the house this week.  I plan to catch up on all my chores before Friday so I can enjoy it fully!