A Dogs Day...

My days have been full of many things.  Nothing special, just staying busy.

Today I had to set my alarm clock.  I needed to have Winston at the Groomers by 9:00 AM which has become my normal getting out of bed time.  I never sleep through to 9:00 AM.  Miles has a very good internal clock.  He either needs to go out or he is hungry... or both.  This happens between 6:30 AM and 8:00 AM... generally in the 7:00 AM area.  This morning it was closer to 6:30 PM.

Winston's groomer used to be in Parkesburg.  Now they are outside of Cochranville, on a horse farm, in a shed.  So the quick 8 minute ride is now more like 15 minutes.  But it is all back country roads.  Just so you know, the corn in Chester County is doing really, really well.

I left Miles at home.  He needs to learn how to be on his own from time to time.  Little did he know that when I got home, he was going to get a bath, too.  He was delighted to see me.  I checked email, which led him into a false sense of security.  But finally, I got up and we headed into the bathroom and got everything ready.

I had hoped that I would have been able to bathe him in the kitchen sink, but my kitchen sink is a double sink and he is just a tad too long for it.  If I were to bathe him there, I would be cleaning up water and shampoo from everywhere. So he gets bathed in the tub.

Even though his skin has been much improved since Fancy Gap, when I got him he had a very bad staph infection on his skin as well as in his ears.  But my wonderful vets worked with us until it was all cleared up.  But I decided to do this bath with the anit-bacterial shampoo to make sure there was nothing lingering under his long, silky fur.  So, he was washed and then rolled all over the living room, trying to get dry.  It was really quite the show.  Next time, I will try to catch it on video.

Winston was home by noon and looks very handsome.  I replaced his Thundershirt by mid-afternoon.  He has been having some anxiety attacks.  Again, working with my vets, we have several levels of care when he gets them.  But what I have discovered is that he is one of the dogs that has a very positive response to the Thundershirt.  It calms him down without needing any medication.  I have an original Thundershirt.  I ordered a second one which arrived today.  It is made of a thinner fabric than the original.  Perfect weight for summer.  I take it off from time to time to let his fur/skin breathe but when he starts pacing, I put it back on and he stops pacing and plays with his toys and sleeps peacefully.

The rest of the day was more sorting and purging.  I do this from time to time.  When I combined all of the stuff from the Maryland house to this house after Rudy died, I was overwhelmed with stuff.  But I went through each room and got things in some sort of order.  Then I made the sewing room and it got better.  This is the third sorting and purging.  I will be traveling this September and there will be a dog/house sitter in the house for two weeks, so I am trying to make it a little less cluttered.

So far, so good!!!