Blue Stripey

Just showin' off today's blue stripey soxy. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

"Come on toesies! Time to wake ups from your naps!"

Let me introduce you to our new family member. Anti Monkey Butt Powder. Terrible name, terrific product. Before we put on Walter's shoe, we powder down walters foot with it and make sure it gets in between his toes and pads. It's a powder that reduces chaffing and sore spots. it also absorbs moisture and keeps the toes dry. It also gives me a chance to massage walter's toes, which many have said is very good for nerve growth. I sing to his toes and say, "Come on toesies! Time to wake ups from your naps!"

Then we get the shoe ready, make sure there's lots of anti monkey butt powder in it.

Then goes on the soxy

Then the shoe goes on (you've seen this pic before, but trying to get an action shot of wally putting on his shoe is like getting an action shot of a hummingbird in flight.

Then we walksie! (In this pic he's wearing a white baby sock, not the orange stripey, because again, getting pictures of the "putting on the shoe" process takes time. It took me about three days just to assemble this little documentary!")

The little man can walk TWO BLOCKS now in his shoe. We still have to be super careful not to overdo it and he has developed some hotspots on his poor feet, but the anti monkey butt powder does seem to help and we alternate between using the dorsi-flex and the wonderful little suspension bridge anklet walter first got awhile ago. Between them we try to keep his boot on for 6-8 hours a day. those nerves are growing a millimeter a day, (or so) and we want them to grow in the right direction. Also we dont want wally to mash his little toesies while they're napping!

Mom, if you thought leaving me to go to work was hard, just wait until I give you this look and stick my little shoe out. Now try to leave. Just try.

This is the look I get when I have to go off to work. Little pout. Little shoe. Impossible to leave him behind! Wally's new shoe has doubled his impossible-to-ignorability by a hundred fold. I'm doomed.

Thank you Ace's Angels!

Your prayers worked people! ACE MADE IT THRU!!!! He is recovering and will soon be transported to his foster home in Rochester. He will be sleeping soundly in Walters miracle recovery crib!
That is the adorable Boo sitting by the crib, waiting for his new foster brother to come home!

Can you believe it was just 3+ months ago that it was Walter in this crib? These portable cribs are great transition beds, they fold up and can be taken outdoors. We actually bought two for Walter (one for gramma's house, one for mine) and we're donating them to MN Pug Rescue, so after Ace is done with his beddie-bye, they'll be ready for any other pugglins in need. I'm thinking we should put together a portable pug trauma kit! We could send it anywhere in the world! (Now I'm picturing a pug trauma RV...THE PUGULANCE!)

Thank you to the amazing vets at South Hyland Pet Hospital. Ace's vet proceeded with his surgeries not knowing if funding was in place. We're still scrambling to cover all the bills, if you can help our little Ace, every dollar helps. After his surgery there will be rehab, like Walter's so the bills will keep coming.

Not only that but the vet actually took Ace home with her to care for him. Bless the vet, bless her, bless her and bless all of you for your prayers and white light.

GO ACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went for a walk and got yogurt treats!

We read all your great advice and went for a walk. It was blissful. Thank you for your support. Then Jess and Lilo sent us a Paw it forward package and we got YOGURT TREATS!!!! Oh yes we did! Plus a check for $25, which is going right to Tc rehab!! thank you so so SO much!

What now?

Okay, I know this sounds crazy...but I'm still feeling it, so I'm going to put it out there so you wise ones can lead me through. The therapist wants Walter to spend more time out of scamperland and to build up as much time in the shoe as possible. She said, and I quote, "Let him out around the house."

Let him walk around the house??? it goes against my every instinct. I want to keep him in scamperland where its safe. where he's safe. I've become so robotic in our strict "routines" (medication at exact times of day, exercises and physio ball everyday, coordinated babysitting, No time outside scamperland except potty breaks, no running, jumping, rough housing, going on walks etc...) that now that walter's routines can change back...I'm having a hard time changing anything at all. I'm not ready!!!

My little man can actually go on short walks outside on a leash now! It's terrifying! what if a car...what if his leash...I can't even finish the sentence. I won't! I KNOW!! stop worrying! Walter isn't worrying!!! In fact, in an attempt to prolong the "babying" I got walter in a new stroller. a $250 contraption with all the bells and whistles. You know what happened? I put him in the new stroller, said, "Here Wally! It's your new stroll..." Then I heard, "Rrrrrrrrip!"

Walter slashed the front netting with his nails. Slashed it right out like...."I don't believe I'll be taking the stroller anymore mom! See ya!" Then he hopped out.

HOPPED OUT.

So now the stroller is going BACK to the manufacturers! Returned! Come on UPS, take the baby-mobile away! We don't need it! (But...but I need it!!) How can I possibly take this little guy on walks out in the big world unless it's in an indestructible bulletproof gerbil ball with a security envoy!?!

My question is, how do I let my dog be "normal" again when I'm so used to everything being abnormal?? Letting him walk around the house seems as sane as letting him "walk around the mouth of a volcano." What if something happens? It's started to trigger some of the old memories...some of the post traumatic stress stuff. I don't know if my heart can take letting HIM take risks again. I don't know if I can do it. I know I should, I know he's ready...even the doctor says he's ready, but so help me...I cannot go through this again. How do I make sure I never go through this again and give him any freedom at all?

Winston, Lise and many others, I know you'll point me to the positive, which makes me love you!! I'm right there with you! In fact, I am POSITIVE I want to keep walter in an inflated pug bubble-suit for protection ;) okay that might get hot...but you know what I mean. Being positive is essential, and so are fences. So where does caution remain, and faith begin???

I've been clinging to the tippy-top of a palm tree for so long during this 4 month storm...I don't know how to climb down even after the storm is over and the waters are starting to recede. How do I convince myself to step foot on dry land again? Is it safe? It seems so much safer up in the tree!

(I just know some Chinese philosopher has this all figured out already. It's so frustrating to be small.)

Walter's story will be told at AKC Convention...

Dr. Tomlinson, Walter's rehab vet, is going to an American Kennel Convention to speak about therapies...and which little man made the hit parade? WALLY! We shot this short video for the people to see how dogs work in the water tank. (YOU guys have seen this already, and if you haven't b/c you can't watch quicktime, it's also on Youtube.)

I curved down and around so you could see the mirror on the side, which is how the vet tech in the tank watches to see his foot is being held correctly underwater...and I nearly dropped the camera! Still, I Can't imagine an auditorium of AKC folks not laughing at Wally's burned-muffin-face potato-noggin at the end! I think all those fancy people will stand up in their seats and shout, "I WANT TO KISSY-KISSY ON HIM!!!"

Fally Wally

Here is fally-wally standing in the leaves outside the house after we got back from errands. He wasn't even tired!

Walter and I had a big day. We had a huge water therapy session and went to Petsmart and chucks and LuLu's to buy various treats all you wonderful adorable people have gotten him addicted to...(yogurt kisses! Fat free cookie monster treats! beef bites! etc...) Which reminds me, THANK YOU to Jennifer and Maxwell Sneed, who sent the cutest pug stationary and most delicious (according to walter) gourmet doggie cookies and home made cheesey treats! He quivers when he smells them...I tried to take photos while he opened the box but camera was in process of breaking down. you can see by shoddy quality of todays photo I'm still waiting to replace my camera!

Anyway, the big thing about running errands today is Walter and I went TOGETHER. First time running errands together since the accident 4 1/2 months ago! Walter wore his little shoe, and I tried to shop while every salesperson/pet store employee/passerby/dog lover/complete stranger/human with beating heart stopped and asked, "Why is he wearing that shoe?"

I tried to keep my answers brief, but I learned today you can't really say, "he got hit by a car" without causing a group of people to start forming. Wally got kisses, treats, hugs, cuddles and it took us three hours to run some errands that should have taken one, tops!

The lady at Lulu's, Laura, who hadn't seen us since the accident, and who knew me back when I would shop in the store BEFORE I even owned a dog because "I wanted a pug someday" and who has sold me Walter's weight in treats...well when she saw us she teared up, which made me tear up and there I was, weepy in a boutique pet store.

Laura proceeded to tell another customer a story about us. She said, "My favorite story about Heather is when some love interest from California was coming to stay and she was worried about how he and Walter would get along. I saw her the next day and she told me the guy'd already gone home. It didn't work out. I asked her what happened and she just shrugged and said, "He didn't want a pug sleeping in his bed, so I took him back to the airport."

I had forgotten the story...and the guy, completely! (wouldn't you?)

LONG LIVE WALLY! KING OF THE HOUSE!