Pets

The dogs are doing well. Murphy is almost 20 lbs, thanks to a safe, cozy house and all of rocks that he eats. Seriously, we fish rocks out of his mouth every day. He’s a chewer and a barker — two traits I have NOT had in a dog in a long, long time. He can even bark with a tennis ball in his mouth. That’s impressive!

The collateral damage so far has been minimal.

He chewed some of the woodwork around the stairs and one of WM’s charger cables. We’ve learned quickly to leave NOTHING to chance.

He hasn’t lost teeth yet but he’s definitely gaining some. We’re freezing washcloths and letting him chew on those to give him some relief. And then he drags the wet washcloth across my foot and I fly into the ceiling. He chases moths.

He kind of knows how to sit on command. He sort of knows his name. As for rules, here are the big three we are focusing on:

1) When we leave, we always come back. Always. Even if it’s a few hours or a few days, we will always come back.
2) [insert item/person/Ollie here] is not for chewing.
3) Stand by the door if you need to pee or poop.

He’s a dingus, but he’s my dingus.

Ollie turns 10 this month. He’s roughhousing with Murphy just like he used to do with Max. His ears have been fine although his Horner’s Syndrome hasn’t faded like I hoped it would. (This is gross, but Murphy cleans Ollie’s ears on the regular.) Ollie’s energy levels are increasing, and he’s gained weight back. That’s not good, by the way, but I’m not going to bodyshame him. Ollie is my snugglebuddy and my happy, drooly footstool.

It is a lot of work, but it’s sure nice having two dogs again.