This week has been absolutely exhausting, and this is my excuse for not updating the blog and not keeping up with reading others’ blogs these days.
I got Foster back on Sunday and since I do not trust my dogs to behave and not get into fights when I cannot supervise directly (as opposed to when I’m not at home) at this point, I’m all over the place once I get home. I keep Georgia and Foster together when I’m in the same room or take them outside. Foster has never showed any aggression or irritation towards Georgia, but I’m still too shaken by my experience from last month, I don’t leave them together if I can’t be there with them. I do not trust Brandy and Brooklyn at all with Foster or Georgia, and so I’m pretty busy trying to spend time with everyone of them, and take them outside separately.
This Monday, I started commuting to the new location to which IT division moved. I’m still working 10am – 6pm instead of noon – 8pm as I blogged before because my boss told me to come in at 10am and see how it goes. The first day, there were several empty spots as I predicted because consultants were too scared to take their cars, and therefore, a lot of them opted to take the shuttle bus. The second day, there were 3 spots left. The third day, I took the very last spot, the furthest corner of the parking lot from the building – I knew then that I would have trouble the next day. The word is getting out that there are still parking spots at 10am! So come yesterday, 20 minutes BEFORE 10am, I couldn’t find a consultant spot. I called my coworker to relay the situation, and I was going to just idle engine and sit there, reading the book I have been carrying with me for just that. But while I was on the phone, the security guard hired by the company to enforce the atrocious parking rules walked over and told me to park in one of those numerous empty employee spots. I guess he didn’t get the memo, but hey, I have his blessing to park in the employee spot if there is no empty consultant spot left from now on. So life goes on until the word gets out to more consultants causing the employees to start complaining about lack of parking spots.
All in all, I have been sleeping even worse than before because I’ve been worried about the fucking parking spot every single day. Hopefully I get some more rest next week.
Last night, I talked on the phone with a dog behaviorist specializing in dog aggression for about an hour and a half. I described to her each of my dogs’ disposition, the living arrangement that had worked for more than 3 years until Georgia’s elbow dysplasia diagnosis, the change in living arrangement, and the behavior changes leading up to the fight between Brooklyn and Brandy and Brandy’s attack on Georgia. I found her to be very nice and personable.
The flood gate on my tear ducts opened when she asked “Who’s your favorite?” because I thought she was asking this question to see who I’d end up choosing to give up in case keeping all four of them is not doable. Oh no, I don’t have a favorite. I once tried to pick my favorite – I tried to reason if I had to choose just one in an emergency, who would I choose? I don’t know. I have no idea. They are my kids. How can you choose?
My goal now is to have a functional 2-way separation just as before, whichever combination that might be. Right now I’m doing 3-way without Foster. When he comes back after Georgia’s stitches come out, my plan is to pair him up with Georgia so that I don’t need to do 4-way separation. For me to be able to successfully accomplish this, I want her professional advice, and hopefully, she and I can figure out how to achieve 2-way separation again.
I would have to figure out a way to pay her fee first because she cannot take credit card. Wish me luck.
Georgia saw Dr. L on Friday when the drains came out. Dr. L said her leg looks surprisingly good. But Georgia managed to break the E-collar she was wearing for the second time last night, and took most of the stitches out. I quickly went out and bought some self-sticking bandages and wrapped it up, but she keeps scratching it with her hind leg so that the bandage can’t stay in place. So far the incision hasn’t burst, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Brooklyn’s wounds look to be all healed just like all of my wounds, which are just a little sensitive. She, so far, seems content most of the time and cries and howls whenever she thinks I’ve been away from her too long or if she hears me taking another dog outside. I’ve been sleeping with her in the bedroom (on the bed Foster marked all over) ever since her fight with Brandy and she seems to be happier to be in the bedroom than the livingroom.
I took Brandy to the vet yesterday to see if anything is wrong with her healthwise which is making her more aggressive. Other than her known health problems, that is. Dr. L found out that Brandy has two cracked teeth. When I say “cracked”, it doesn’t mean the teeth broke where we can see them. The teeth seem to have been pushed outward cracking them above the gum line and then put back to their original place. She said it’s already healing so there is nothing to be done. From the outside, the area near Brandy’s nose where the black nose ends on the right side looks slightly more bulbous than the other side. She couldn’t tell how old the wound is, it’s either from the fight with Brooklyn or when she jumped on Georgia. Dr. L also took three vials of Brandy’s blood to be tested for any diseases that make a dog cranky including 11 tick-borne diseases and thyroid, on top of a full chem panel.
This afternoon when I took Brandy outside, she had a sudden sneezing fit, after which I noticed some blood around her muzzle. Upon inspection, I could see there was blood in her left nostril. I will talk to Dr. L tomorrow.
Foster has been staying with Sam and Houston since the day after I picked up Georgia from the vet. I can’t trust Brandy with any other dog right now and with Georgia’s leg all stitched up and with her E-collar bumping into everything, I didn’t want Foster to play with Georgia either. So I had to separate them all, and Sam volunteered to look after Foster. According to Sam, Foster must miss home since he has never seen Foster so subdued. Poor guy…
Grizzley has been doing well. He’s still on prednisone and eating well and as feisty as ever.
I am exhausted and stressed and broke. And that’s all I have to say about myself.
Yesterday morning, Brandy attacked Georgia. Brandy was gnawing on a little tree branch and she walked away sniffing around and doing something else. Georgia went over to the tree branch and started gnawing on it. Brandy saw it and she jumped on Georgia. I got Brandy off of Georgia pretty fast without any injury to myself, but Georgia’s lone front leg was bleeding profusely. I had to separate Brandy first to do anything with Georgia, so I put her inside a crate, picked up the rolled bandage and ran back outside. I have never seen so much blood in my whole life and I seriously thought I was going to lose Georgia from losing too much blood.
I put the bandage on her and drove to the nearest emergency vet where they clipped the wound and examined it. Then the attending veterinarian thought it was best for a surgeon to open up Georgia’s leg because there were just too much blood coming out and was worried about damages to any ligaments or nerves. I called my vet Dr. L, and drove Georgia over where she opened her up and confirmed there were no permanent damage, it was just that the bite was to the largest vein in her leg. They put a drain in her leg so that the blood accumulated in her leg would drain out and I was told that she’s doing well. I either pick her up later today depending on how much the swelling goes down.
Brandy will have another thorough check up on Saturday because of her recent aggression. Besides, I’ve been worried about her general health since now she smells like a dog. For those who are going “isn’t Brandy a dog?” Yes, she is. But ever since I’ve switched all my dogs to prey model raw diet, they just stopped smelling like a dog even when they are soaking wet. But now Brandy smells like a dog and I just know something’s not right on top of her pneumonia and on top of her bacterial overgrowth (her stool is STILL loose). She’s been having accidents over night and now her eyes are so watery she has tear marks under her eyes. I’m really worried.
Life is a bitch and I’m tired of her.
There has been much could’ve, should’ve and would’ve on my part for the past week or so. I should have seen it coming. I should have been more careful…
Ever since Georgia and Brooklyn were moved downstairs, I have felt that Brooklyn has been giving Georgia cold shoulders. Georgia is jumpier and more easily scared now that she can hear outside noises a lot more clearly and I thought maybe that had to do with it because Brooklyn gets a little annoyed by Georgia running around not knowing what to do with herself. Then when I started dog-sitting Houston, I started getting a weird vibe from Brooklyn whenever I brought Georgia back into the livingroom after the meal.
Before the new living arrangement, because Georgia and Brooklyn stayed in the master bedroom, Georgia used to eat inside the master bathroom and I only had to open the bathroom door after both Georgia and Brooklyn were done eating. Everybody has to be fed separately in this house because otherwise one would try to steal another’s food and fight would break out.
After Georgia and Brooklyn moved to downstairs living room, Georgia had to be fed outside the living room. Monday night, I brought Georgia back into the living room after their meal, and that was when Brooklyn attacked Georgia. Georgia doesn’t bite back and she tried to hide behind me and in my poor attempt to take Georgia back out of the room, I opened the door and that’s when Brandy charged in. Brooklyn and Brandy were going at each other for what seemed to me like forever. I was desperately trying to separate them and both of them bit anything and everything near their mouths including me.
After I finally separated them, my right hand had blood clot coming out of a hole, the right side of my shirt and pants blood-soaked, my blood smeared and splattered everywhere. I was hyperventilating and feeling extremely cold and felt like I would pass out soon. But I was somehow abnormally calm. I looked for the number to call a cab, packed a new shirt and a pair of pants, cell phone and the charger, pager, and the organizer while waiting for the cab.
Fortunately, nothing was broken, so after about 5 hours, I was released after given pain killer and antibiotic with the instruction to see a doctor next day. I came home at about 2am, and let the dogs out for a quick potty break, and took Brooklyn to the emergency vet clinic where she was hospitalized over night. Then I came home and took Brandy to the same emergency vet clinic, and she was released with an antibiotic after confirming all her wounds were superficial. I made a stop at a 24-hour Walgreen’s for a case of Ginger Ale since even drinking water was making me puke. I came home at around 4am and started to make another arrangement to separate Brooklyn from Georgia and others.
Brooklyn was pretty banged up. She had to have drains inserted in two places and got stitches as well. She’s been on antibiotic and pain killer. She looks quite pathetic and must feel that way as well because she screams and howls as if she’s getting slaughtered whenever I leave her by herself. But she’s getting better.
Some people were assuming that I’m weighing the possibility of putting Brooklyn down because of the bites or her dog aggression. No, that’s not it. I know she’s dog aggressive and I have known it ever since I got her. I know I get bitten when I try to stop a dog fight. Note to self: go get the fucking break stick and the citronella spray already!
No, that’s not why. It’s because Brooklyn gets so miserable when she has to be in a room by herself when clearly I’m in the same house. She cries her heart out whenever I take the other dogs outside. Sometimes she hears me addressing other dogs and starts crying and tries to get out of the room by destroying it – fortunately she’s wearing a cone and it’s preventing her to do any damage right now. I know her look when she’s unhappy. I lived with unhappy Brooklyn for more than a year when I first got her. I remember how miserable she was…
Brooklyn is a good dog. She’s a very very good dog. She’s the most trouble-free dog I’ve ever seen if there is no other animal around. She doesn’t steal my food. She doesn’t chew anything. She never touches anything that belongs to me. She NEVER EVER has an accident even if she has to hold for 2 days and even when she has the diarrhea. She doesn’t bark incessantly. She walks very nicely on leash. She loves people. She loves me oh so very much.
Right now, I’m just trying to get her better. I can’t handle thinking about it when I have to tend to her wounds and mine. I’ll see how she does living in the room without Georgia to keep her company when I can’t be there with her. I have to see how she handles it… and go from there…
Serious Stuff. Seriously
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