originally published 1/9/24
Sometimes it is hard to tell which way to lean. Banner wants to be out much too often. I can’t be sure whether it is real potty urgency or a feign of urgency to get me to comply, but she goes out, potties a bit, then walks around the yard – taking a step, lapping snow, taking another step, lapping more snow, etc. I don’t like that she is ingesting the snow, but at this age in particular, I want her to enjoy her opportunities.
She has a bandage on her foot where something was removed from a toe, so the bandage can’t get wet. Plastic bags and used IV bags don’t work very well for as much as she walks, and the walking is good. So I’ve found something that does work: an exam glove covered by a dog sock. Amazon is a good place to find a lot of odds and ends, and I found some XL socks with pad print grips that fit well. Of course, the second time I ordered some, as these get dirty quickly and must be washed often, that order arrived in a size that would fit a terrier, hypothetically still XL. Now when she comes inside, the sock is completely wet with chunks of ice stuck on the bottom. But the sock layers stay on and the bandage stays dry.
I thought about setting up the ex pen across the patio so she could enjoy the cold, but the snow blows onto the patio and melts, so a wet dog inside can mean that the floor gets wet, and then the bandage gets wet. Stitches come out in 9 more days, and the predictions are even worse (from my perspective) for the next several days.
It was a long night. She was up four times. Maybe they can hear the snow striking the windows, or smell something different in the air. I wonder whether the Newfs in the northern climate get as excited about snow, when it is a less infrequent occurrence. Maybe those people get to sleep all night.