Circus life

Gregg has been away this week for work, so I've been hanging with the dogs. Normally, that's not that big of a deal, but this week has been ridiculous.

First of all, Mia is still recovering. She's got these big shaved patches on her stomach and hips. She seemed to perk up right after the surgery but then started limping about a week ago and hasn't stopped. I feel terrible watching her hobble around. Feel terrible, that is, until she starts growling at Bandit, at which point I just want to beat her. Yeah, she's been growling pretty non-stop at Bandit. I don't know if its just her being edgy or her being possessive of my attention. Probably both. Over the years, she's learned to tolerate Gregg's dogs, but I think she's still an "only child" at heart. Even as I write this, she's growling at Tucker for jumping on MY bed, though there's plenty of room for them both. And definitely she's been getting some extra lovin' with the whole surgery thing, but I guess that's not doing much for her personality. Anyway, she growls at Bandit. Bandit -- never one to be scared -- comes closer to check her out. Tucker starts barking and running over to protect me (from Mia, I guess). And I start screaming at all of them. This is seriously the cycle we go through at least 5-6 times a day (more when I was home all weekend). I'm guessing the neighbors are about one step away from calling the cops on me. Once Bandit and Mia even got into an all out fight. I'm sure that's helping with the recovery process.

And, Bandit started leaking. By that, I mean, she seems to be leaving puddles of urine EVERYWHERE. The house smells like a urinal, I kid you not. Its totally disgusting. I've been walking around the house constantly spraying febreeze, pouring Resolve where ever I see spots in the carpet, lighting candles, and freezing my ass off with the door open just to get the stink out. No luck. I have no idea what's up. Granted Bandit's an old dog, but she's never had even a little leakage problem, let alone a gushing issue. Plus it turns out that she might have a heart condition too. Apparently the normal heart rate for a dog is about 130. Hers is about half that. So today, we had a vet appt to figure out the peeing problem. Friday, we go back to the vet to get xrays for the heart, and next week, an EKG with a heart specialist. I'm not even thinking about how much the vet bills are going to be.

Basically, I feel like I'm living at the zoo -- lots of growling and smelly living quarters to boot. Like seriously, I should just put a sign on my door and sell tickets, between vet visits of course. . . You know, come smell my house and tell me if it makes you want to puke too, take in a dog fight, etc.

So of course now, if you've been following along, you'll see the full extent of my dilemma from yesterday!