dog bed – Page 5

Spooning

Peace, love, & understanding.

“I Bet My New Dog Bed Sure Is Nice”

Every time I read the headlines of the day’s news, I wish I could sprinkle a bit of Ellie’s personality on everyone around the world. We replaced one of her dog beds but the cats took to it before she had the chance to try it out. She settled for the carpet rather than drive the interlopers out.

They don’t come any sweeter than our Ellie.

Attack Dog

When we first adopted Ellie a few years ago, it seemed pretty clear she hadn’t been in an urban environment before as she wasn’t particularly good on her leash and she was much worse when off it, at least in open areas. Inside the house, or in a fenced backyard, she was in top form, no worries there.

In the hopes of one day being able to let her off leash at the nearby dog park, I began working with her in the backyard on learning to heel & stay & come, even when excited, and eventually she got the hang of it. I got brave enough to try her in the dog park and she did well, but we also started a little game where I would sprint from one side of the park to the other and, if she stayed by my side the whole time, she got a treat.

We still run wind sprints together whenever possible, even though she has long outgrown the need for the training, because she just loves it. But the other day as she caught me from behind she bumped into my legs and sent me sprawling face first into the mud. I had been running pretty fast so I hit hard and as I tried to sit up, found it hard to breathe. It was hard to tell exactly where the pain was coming from, I suppose that must have been the adrenaline kicking in, useful for when you’re trying to escape a lion but not so much when you’ve been attacked by a giant goofball and only want to know what is broken. I forced a few deep breaths and was relieved there were no sharp pains in my chest.

I was also relieved when I could stand and put weight on both my legs without shooting pain, so my streak of never having broken a bone stays alive. Once I got home and a little time had passed, a bruise the size of a dollar bill appeared on my thigh with a matching silver dollar bruise on my knee. All from an accidental bump.

Although word around the house is that it may not have been so accidental but payback for having had to smell ribs cooking all day and then I didn’t even share one bite with her during dinner.

Lately she’s been sidelined not by my leg but by hers, she somehow hurt it so she’s been on bed rest but I think we’ll start up short walks tomorrow, because boy howdy is she ready. I lost count of how many times she pelted me with hedgehogs today. Here she is curled up with one of her favorites (as you can tell from the stuffing that is escaping) on the dog bed in my office.

Post-op

I’m happy to report that Ellie’s ligament surgery yesterday was successful and she was able to come home today. It takes a couple of months for the bones to fully heal so she has a long recuperation ahead, and it’s going to be hard keeping her on bed rest that long, but we’re looking forward to her being whole again. She gets medication for a few days to manage the intense pain of the early recovery period, as well as some other meds, and cold compresses to minimize swelling. She really doesn’t like the cold on her bare skin so I cradled her in my arms while my wife held the compress. I had to smile when eventually we heard the sounds of snoring.

Good to have you home, Ellie. Good to have you home.

The Prisoner

We picked up an exercise pen at a local pet store, which for Ellie will be an anti-exercise pen. It’s necessary to keep her off her legs as she’ll tolerate pain as long as it means she gets to play. Resisting her gaze I feel like a modern day Perseus, except Ellie is the anti-medusa, her sad puppy dog eyes will turn you to mush. She’s tolerated this all pretty well, and still has a ways to go, but oh how happy she will be when she is back on her feet.

Little Sam & Big Ellie

Ellie knows the bed is hers but apparently is willing to share.

Sam and Emma had been snuggling on the dog bed until Emma got up to curl up in one of the warm beds. That left little Sam all alone circle sleeping in the middle of the bed when Ellie came into my office. She sleeps on the bed frequently but rather than force Sam off, she lay down beside him with only her head resting on the bed.

What a sweetheart!

Little Sam & Little Ellie

I have a dog bed in my office that sees heavy use from more than just our dear Ellie. When my wife made it she didn’t have quite enough stuffing so peaks and valleys form, an irresistible draw for crevice-loving Sam. Emma often sleeps on it as well and with her black fur resembles a little Ellie. She’s rather fascinated with the dog and often snuggles in beside or behind me while I toss the hedgehog with Ellie.

Emma’s also been snuggling with Sam lately, although to be honest I didn’t see who snuggled up to who, it could be that Emma was just tolerating our Grade A snuggler.

A King, A King, My Bedroom For A King

A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!
King Richard in Shakespeare’s Richard III

Ellie had an upset stomach this past week which led to a rather unfortunate if prodigious emptying of her bowels in the living room. The vet suggested we switch her to a bland diet of rice and cooked meat (no bernaise sauce) for a few days and thankfully there have been no more incidents. Erring on the safe side, we isolated her to the easily-cleanable part of the basement while we were at work and at night while we slept. She didn’t mind the imposition while we were gone but our champion snuggler was not pleased about the loss of bed privileges at night.

The morning after she had to be encouraged to eat (a surer sign of the apocalypse than any four horsemen) but otherwise her appetite has been fine. Her energy level and spirits have also been high the whole time and today we started slowly working her regular food back into her diet. So far so good!

She was allowed to rejoin us in bed at night after a few days of no accidents and I’m happy to report that she now moves over when I come to bed at night. I can’t say if her banishment to solitary affected the change but regardless I’m no longer wishing for a king-sized bed.

A Super Weekend

This past week we’ve made good progress on our slow introduction of Ellie to our world. She has free reign of the house as long as we’re home and this weekend was allowed to join us in the bedroom for the first time. No cats were eaten!

In fact, the cats continued to sleep on us just as they always have, with Ellie beside our bed on the dog bed my wife made for her. To show you just how well I know my cats, I thought the order of Ellie acceptance would go Scout -> Sam -> Emma. Exactly how it happened, except I got the order backwards.

The other day when my wife had the morning off, she and Ellie joined me on my walk to the train station. When it was time to part ways, I walked off and looked back to see her staring with such sorrow that you’d think I was drifting off to sea. It’s a cold soul that can turn from such a longing gaze but I knew the warm welcome I’d receive at the end of the day. Oh how her tail wags!