A Rocky Start

I am not a morning person. Still, some mornings are better than others. This morning was not one of the better ones.

I got up at 5 to let everyone out to pee, then back to bed. Fudge doesn't like to get up early for these quick outings. He likes to sleep till breakfast.

At 8 when Fudge woke up I jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes to get him outside as fast as possible. I try to always shut the gate on the porch when I go out but today Fudge was in a real hurry to get to the grass and I left the gate open.

Of course today Rob let Mackey onto the porch without a leash and she noticed the open gate immediately. She took off in search of the neighbor's cat.

Mackey's registered name is Legacy's Breaking All The Rules. The name fits her perfectly because she doesn't listen to any commands, ever. We both called her but she ignored us. Rob finally caught her trying to climb a tree to find the cat.

So we proceeded to the back yard where the others were waiting for their breakfast. I fixed their bowls and opened the door. They all came running, but my headcount was short. Bailey was missing.

I went into the yard to look for Bailey. She was vomiting. Then she started toward me but she fell. She just lay there on the ground and I thought this was it. I went to her repeating her name over and over. She got up and walked slowly into the garage. She refused her food so I put her in her crate to rest.

After the other dogs ate, they ran outside again. It's very hot today so none of them wanted to stay out. Once everyone was inside and the garage was quiet, I brought Bailey back out and talked to her for awhile. Then I offered her some breakfast. She ate it all, then took her pills. She happily went into her pen for a nap.

I checked on her an hour later and she was ready for a short outing. She took Red Monkey with her but didn't bring him back in. I took a quick glance around but didn't see him.

Mid morning Bailey was ready for her snack, then carried Moose outside with her. I searched and found Moose but Red Monkey was still missing. Rob finally found him at the foot of the hill. So Bailey has her little family gathered around her in her pen and she seems to be feeling good.

After the mid morning outing I noticed that Tess was limping. Her front legs both are deformed so she looks awkward when she walks but lately one leg seems to be bothering her. I gave her a Rimadyl and will keep her on leash the rest of the day. Tess loves to run and I think she sometimes over stresses her legs. A couple days of rest should help.

So let's hope that the rest of the day is calm and routine. I like routine.

Late edit: When I finished this post it was doggie dinner time. So before publishing, we went to the garage for dinner. I feed four at a time to cut down on the chaos. Sydney eats by herself when everyone else is finished.

The first four to eat are Fudge, Lola, Bailey and Mackey. I put their bowls down and they began to eat. Mac eats as fast as she possibly can so she can hurry around looking for crumbs the others may have dropped. In her haste, she started choking on a piece of kibble. I waited a few seconds to see if she'd cough it up by herself but she needed help. I did my version of the Heimlich maneuver lifting her back end up and giving her a fast squeeze below the ribs. It worked and the piece of kibble flew across the floor. Mackey raced to get it and swallow it before anyone else got it.

The day is winding down and hopefully the evening will be filled with contented dogs snoring till our bedtime  activities. Just another day with dogs.