Today, March 3, is day 20 since Mimi arrived.  Time flies!  A significant thing happened this morning.  Usually, Mimi runs around trying to figure out where she belongs when I dole out meals.  But this morning, she flew to her crate and waited there.  I had a moment of  “Where is that dog?” when I saw her no where near, then when I got to her crate, she was so darn cute.  She was wagging her tail and her whole body went along for the ride.  She was so excited and so was I.  She figured out she will always get a bowl of food, and felt safe enough to run to her spot.  What a far distance we traveled from the night I had to wrestle her off the bowls on the counter.  Had I known, I’d have had my camera ready!

She is still pulling some things down for a chew, last night it was my sheets and comforter again, but I am catching her quicker and she’s understanding NO.  OK, I’m not afraid to hurt her feelings saying NO as much as I was.  She is very sensitive, and she shows it.  So when I say NO to her, she goes to one of two corners she’s staked out for herself.  Of course, it’s hard on me watching her slink away, but  I’d like to be able to trust her in the house, and I imagine it will be a while till we get there.  Step by step, though, we will find our way.  And she comes out of the corner faster than I can put the sheet and comforter back.

Sunday night, March 6 – I lost another t-shirt tonight.  I have such a habit of hanging them off chairs, that I forget that’s dangerous.  She got it good.  But made a nice clover-like design.  I guess it’s for the upcoming St. Patty’s day festivities.

I ordered my computer parts, too.  It took a lot of hunting, but found the substitute power supply for the external drive I have.  I’m trying really hard to be vigilant and not let the Termite sit near my computer wires.  That’s her nickname.  The Termite.

Yesterday, Monday, March 7, I looked outside the back door where along a certain group of plants, I have small arched wire fencing.  Dudley has been thinking lately he can jump in there and get away with it.  Sunday, I caught him back there with a pine cone.  He couldn’t come out.  Not with that pine cone in his mouth.  I finally coaxed him out without it.  So did I ever have a laugh when I caught sight of Dudley’s head sticking through one of the foot-high fencing, and upon calling him, the fence and all it’s connections grasped him by the neck and came with him.  Being they were pushed into the ground, and may I say it wasn’t easy getting them through that rocky ground, it wasn’t so easy for him to pull them out and back.  I was caught in between laughing and getting my camera.  I also thought about stepping out to help him escape, yet there is something so delicious about Karma, I didn’t want to interfer.

However, it took short order for him to remove that big head and ego of his and leave my fencing sprawled on the ground.  I had to go back and reconnect it to Mother Earth.  I am just hoping that that episode taught Dudley a lesson, and perhaps he will leave that area and it’s fencing alone from now on.

March 17 – St Patty’s Day

That comment I left above, ha!  Dudley’s lessons are not long lasting.  He’s be sighted back in that area at least once since then.  He’s the kind of dog who loves the chase.  LOVES IT!  So he instigates ways to be chased when his daily quotient of being chased is not reached.

Since March 6, I’ve not lost any more t-shirts or clothes to the Termite; however, March 15, Tuesday, I heard fabric ripping.  I ran into the bedroom while yelling MIMI!  Sure enough, there she was standing on the floor at the corner of my bed ripping the fitted sheet off.  She gnawed off a nice little hole in those 2-seconds of ripping noise I heard.  Other than that, she is sort of getting the rules of not eating my clothes and bedding.

One thing she’s come with is when I reach down to do a collar grab, she rolls over and goes limp.  Bright little character that she is!  This happens when I am making dinners and want everyone out of my small kitchen so I can move around and get the job done.  Mimi likes to wait it out and pretend like “no understand.”  After four calls “Mimi, out!” (which is three too many), I reach for the collar, and she rolls.  I don’t play that game.  So when she rolled last time, I let go.  She got up and I tried again, and I guess she wasn’t expecting that, and caught her off guard.  She then cooperated and moved on out of the kitchen.  I have so much work to do with her.  But I didn’t want to stress her out till after today.

March 17, she is getting spayed.  Ahhhh!  First, I wish I’d brought a camera.  When I had turned around after talking to the woman behind the counter, Mimi was lying sprawled on the tile floor, back legs out, head on floor between paws.  I keep telling myself to carry a camera everywhere I go, and have yet to find a camera to put in my purse.  I think I need to buy one just for that.

The hardest hard hard hard part was not letting her have food or especially water this morning.  She was thirsty.  I felt like a meanie when I shut the door and left her in her crate until I had taken care of the other dogs, let them out, fed them, and re-crated them for the day.  Not till I was ready to go out the door did I let Mimi out to pee.  I had pulled one bucket of water up, and meant to close the door to the bedroom where the other bucket was.  Forgot and heard her race in there as I was getting her leash, so I had to yell MIMI! again.  My fault.  Too much to think about.  She had a few licks, and then I caught her.

I go through the Humane Society to get a decent price on spaying.  She was 40# at one place, and that was a charge of $55.  Of course, when she arrived at the vet’s office, this scale said she was 42#, and they said it should be $60.  But she let me off the hook and charged $55.  But they shove a sheet at you with all these things you *should* do, but because you are going through the HS, you don’t get.  But if you want it, you can pay all the extras.  It was amazing.   Blood work, chest x-rays, IV and fluids, and they make you feel like a heel with pain medications.  As if anyone would want their pets to suffer.  I have pain meds at home, and I so duly wrote that.  There were a few more options on the list.  If I’d checked off all those, the $55 spay would easily go over $500.  Then it’s another sheet that you sign that if they find a flea on your dog, they will apply a topical for $38.  THIRTY EIGHT DOLLARS for ONE APPLICATION!  I wrote on the bottom that I sprayed her with Frontline two weeks ago.  They can look at my blog if they don’t believe me, but geesh!  Oh, and I asked how much to microchip.  Guess.  $55!  I don’t get it.  Vets in this area really are out for one thing, money.  There may be a few outside that realm, but barely.

Economics aside, I just feel out of sorts and want this to be done and done well and safely.  Is that too much to ask?  No.  I will get to call over there at 2 pm today, if they don’t call me before, to find out how she is and when she can come home.  When that is done, and she recuperates, I can then start a little bit more on that collar grab game, and a lot of other things.  Though I’m not sure if she’s an agility wannabe, she’ll at least learn the basics of obedience.