Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Rochester, Ollie, & Chateau

Well I'm a day late on my typical posting schedule.  I had a death in the family last week, and yesterday was the funeral.  So this last week was a tough one for me, but the dogs were so well behaved and I truly believe they could sense my sadness and were extra loving toward me.

Chateau had her heartworm shots last week.  The vets said she did very well getting the shots, and she was very good for me afterward.  I have noticed she has a fear of cars.  She is terrified of getting in them, so I've always had to pick her up and put her inside.  But both times after the shots, she jumped right in the car on her own.  I've been trying very hard to keep her calm at home (since any excitement could cause the dissolving hear worms to break off and kill her), and it's going very well.  Most of the time she is content to just lay on the couch.  I did notice she likes to stretch out when she lays down, probably because her hips hurt from the shot.  And her crate isn't long enough to allow her to stretch out in it, so at night I let her sleep with me (I know, I'm a terrible person).  But she does really well not crowding me and giving Hardy his space (yes I let him sleep with me too...it's his perk of being my baby and my way of compensating him for making him share his house with 3 other dogs).  The only time I have trouble keeping Chateau calm is when we get up in the morning.  She gets excited when I let Rocky & Ollie out of their crates.  I've found that a gentle scolding and then calmly rubbing behind her ears helps to calm her down.

 Chateau after her first heartworm shot.  See how she likes to stretch out?  Poor girl was not feeling well this day.



Rocky is slowly but surely giving me more space.  I'm sometimes allowed to go to the bathroom by myself, or go in the kitchen for a quick second by myself.  And this morning, he even let me go into my bedroom for a few minutes by myself!  I'll come back, and he's just calmly sitting on the couch, waiting for me.  He's also doing well with the Chateau situation.  He'll sometimes try to start playing with her, and I'll tell him not to bother her, so he'll just run off and play with Ollie.  I think he understands.

Ollie is doing well too.  Still working on the housebreaking, but I'd say it's still going very well.  No accidents in the last 36 hours or so.  He even let me know twice yesterday that he wanted to go out (by hovering near the back door).

This week I want to take some new bath pictures (I don't think I have pictures of any of these 3 after bath time!).  I also want to give Rocky a little bit of a trim.  He's looking kind of scruffy.  I gave Ollie a trim on Sunday and he looks magnificent.  Unfortunately I didn't get any good post-cut pictures, and it's not a huge difference anyway.  But I'll for sure get some after his bath.

Chateau, Ollie, and Hardy found a sunny spot on the floor to lay in.  

Close-up of Rocky, Ollie, and Chateau in their sunny spot.

Oh!  I also wanted to post a link to this article.  It's a good read, and describes how I feel sometimes when I hear the stories of why I'm fostering certain dogs. 

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