Gidget gets spayed...a few new photos

I have been up to my eyeballs finishing my new book, Rocky Roads: The Journeys of Families through Suicide Grief. Now that it's out to the readers, I feel like I an get my head above water again. Gidget gave me many breaks since we are housebreaking her. This morning she was spayed and the tech shared with me her vitals from the monitor. He said they were some of the best he'd ever seen. That's my girl!

A Growing Girl

Gidget continues to develop. Her ear isn't flopping anymore and they seem to be growing themselves as well as her tail. She's almost as tall as Hattie, too. It's like she's not a baby anymore but how quickly the 2 1/2 weeks have gone. She is slowly learning manners and I think I've finally broken her of grabbing my pants and pulling (the worst was when I had workout pants on for a walk and she managed to pull my pants down!).

Settling in

It's been another week and I still can't believe that Gidget has just been with us about 1 1/2 weeks. She started going for walks last week with Nestle although Gidget's idea is to try and grab Nestle's leash so she can chew on it. She also is getting a second walk in the afternoon which is helping to wear her out– she's usually asleep by 7 pm! Last night she was up for a short time after plus a few bathroom breaks made mandatory by me but she is going to sleep easily and staying asleep until I get up at 5:30. She has not used the house as her bathroom in almost 72 hours. Yahoo! And she is playing a lot with the others, particularly Hattie. Gidget likes going outside during the day and finding out what Chaco is doing (he's been spending a lot of time in the sun out there) and then sometimes Hattie will follow and Gidget will chase Hattie all over the yard. Everyone on our walks keeps saying how cute she is but she would rather bark at people than let them talk to her. She loves going up the stairs and it's been interesting watching her develop. I don't remember this about Hattie. The best I can figure is that we have so little recollection of Hattie's puppyhood because she was sick. Right now Gidget is sleeping next to a bone.

Gidget at home

Life is slowly transitioning to our new normal. We were in such a routine for several years that I forgot how much work a new dog can be. Sometimes I scratch my head and can't believe we had six in the house at one time (Ginger and Elvis). Then we had different chaos when Daisy was sick. Now we have the chaos of four dogs, one of which is a scampering puppy. From where I'm sitting, I can see her outside running around with the others although she's standing at the door now, waiting for Joe to let her inside again. She's been such a squirmy wormy it's been difficult to get some good photos but I'm posting a few here.

Happy 9th birthday, Chaco!

It's hard to believe that Chaco came to live with us seven years ago today. I'm still in awe that for seven years I've been running around the park around my house because that means I've also aged seven years and that doesn't seem possible! But Chaco moving in was the start of a new journey for me, that or learning about the human-animal companion bond. It's obviously changed my life in many ways. And, as I write this, Gidget is snoozing on the floor in front of me after an hour of scampering around the house and chewing on a bone. She represents the start of a new journey in our house as well as we continue to transition our bond with Daisy to a much different one now that she has "passed on" to another life and help Gidget grow into an adult German Shepherd and work to keep her holistically healthy so that she may not live the short life that Daisy did. And it all began seven years ago when a quiet chow mix came peeking around the corner at our friend Jim's house.