Reilly is no worse for wear after his confusing day of yesterday. He's his normal happy self this morning. He joined us to feed the livestock at the barn, then went back to the house to wait. I dropped the eggs off at the house as usual, and reminded him that we had to feed the sheep, then headed out front. He came running. I walked back by a different pathway this morning, but Reilly insisted on going back the way we had been doing it! I see that I need to change paths more often, so he doesn't get set in his ways at the tender age of ten weeks old.
He did show me his first real problem this morning. He made...and ate...his own breakfast this morning, all by himself. Ugh. I know they make something I can give him to make his poop unappealing, so I'll have to speak to Doc about it when he goes for his second shots this week. He does not need to eat poo. But the signs on the paper were unmistakable. There had been poo deposited on that paper, but it was nowhere to be found. Ergo....it was breakfast. Must solve this issue before it becomes a subscription.
I've found that I still can't post a comment to this blog, so I am unable to respond to the comments that people have made. I need to get a computer savvy person to help me out on this. In the meantime, I just want you to know that the comments are appreciated. I'm rather astounded that there are people out there reading about my puppy house-training tales of adventure. But thank you. It will keep me focused to know that somewhere out there someone wanted to know what happened to Reilly today.
9:30 pm;
The Tasmanian Devil tried to come back today. Reilly had Jake and Murphy wanting to spend as much time outside as they could, as he kept trying to hang himself from their lips by his teeth. When someone went to pet him, he started chewing on them. He did calm down later in the day, but it took a while. Each time he tries to chew on me, I redirect him to a toy. When he chews on one of the big dogs, I do the same. When he quits taking the toy, then he gets told it's time to go outside, or to his room...a different view helps. He'll outgrow it; they mostly do. It's just not the most fun stage.
In the late morning, Margie came by to visit her birdies, but not to take them home, as family obligations will call her away for a bit. Much easier to not stress the birds by moving them twice, just a couple days apart. So, Margie came, and got to meet and play with Reilly...and get chewed by him. He got more sit-while-the-car-moves practice when she left.
Afterwards, I needed to run some errands, so Reilly went to his room, the big dogs got the rest of the house, and I took off. I picked up what I need and came home. After letting all the dogs outside, I unloaded the car. It takes me two to three times the trips that it used to, as I can carry much less than I used to be able to. It also throws my balance off, so I must be careful. I got it all inside though, and the grocery part put away. Murphy asked to come in, so I let him in. Jake also asked, but he had to get out of his wading pool to do so, so I told him to drip-dry a bit first! Then I headed to the back door to collect Reilly. I stepped down the single step into the mudroom...and my weaker knee folded up on me. Knee damaged, ankle damaged, and "something" gave in my upper thigh as I folded up, plus I hit my head on the door frame on the way down, although not seriously. So there I lay, on the floor. Murphy came to keep me company. My cell phone rang, in the kitchen. I couldn't answer it.
My muscles are so weak that I can not get up from the floor by myself, even undamaged. This is one of the reasons a dog will be helpful. When grown, Reilly can help keep me from ending up on the floor!
I typed up this next section twice, and the computer ate it somehow while posting. So I'll try again...
After I lay there for a bit and took damage assessment, I was pleased to note that although things hurt, no bones were broken. Yay! But I still hurt, and I was still on the floor. I used my arms to pull myself up to sit on the step I'd fallen down. My purse was on the end of the kitchen counter, so I reached up and got it and retrieved my cell phone. Step one complete. If I had been wearing jeans my phone would have been in my pocket, but I had on a dress with no pockets.
I looked at the two handles Chris had installed on the door frame for me to use to help pull myself up that step. I tried to use them to get up, twice. It didn't work, and I quit rather than wear myself out on that. Then I scooted back down the step and over to the back door. There are more steps there. Just three and they're shallow, but they had more hieght than the kitchen step and were a lot closer than the other doors. I got the door open, got my legs out and grabbed the single handle installed on that door frame. It took me a couple tries, but I managed to get to my feet. That's when the pain really showed up. Ankle, knee and thigh, oh my!
I reached inside the door and grabbed two crutches, because there was no way one was going to work. Managed to get back up the steps into the house, get the dogs inside, and Jake dried off somewhat. Got to my laptop on the dining table. For the life of me I could not remember whether I needed ice or heat on my injuries! something I normally know by heart was escaping my brain. So I got on the CB forum and asked. They gave me a quick response, but expressed concern that I'd had a blow to the head and wasn't thinking straight. I was chalking it up to the frustration of the whole incident. But I went to get ice. Then I called Chris to ask him to keep his phone handy in case I needed him. He was on his way home though, so no worries. When he arrived, he augmented the little ice I had managed to get, hovered with a worried expression, and was glad of anything I could ask him to do for me. And he took over the dogs for the rest of the day.
So today is more about me than Reilly, but it does show the value of a trained mobility service dog. I would have been less likely to fall, had I had one. And if I had fallen, such a dog could bring me phone or purse with phone. Or fetch help. They also make a paw-pad alarm button, just for dogs to learn to step on, on command, to call emergency personal. Doggy 911, if you will. If I had arm strength, he could be trained to allow me to use his body to pull up on, but I think that is pretty hard use for a dog, so I don't think I'd do it even if I could. It's not all about me. But there are a tremendous number of things that he could do to either prevent something like this from occurring, or alleviate the results when it does. Let's hope this one is the last one for some time.
I had planned on taking Reilly back in the pool today, but that got postponed. Perhaps tomorrow. I intend to go do a short walk with him in the morning, even though I'll likely be stiff and even more sore. It'll loosen me up, I hope. And Reilly needs the walk. So I'm going to wake up the lovely puppy sleeping on a towel near my feet, have him go potty, and then we're both going to bed. It's been another long day.
Meg and Reilly
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