Dog Suppression

Emily is feeling sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better. This is, on the one hand, exactly what one wants. She's graduated to ten minute walks three times a day. She uses all four feet. Except when she gets up from lying down, when the leg is stiff and she limps for a few minutes, she appears to have no ill effects from the surgery at all. It's 4+ weeks out.

And then there's the other hand: she feels better. She wants to rock and roll and dance and run and run and jump and hop around greeting people on the street and and and... outside we have to keep her on a short leash and walking fairly slowly, because if she goes too fast there will be a tendency not to use the leg, and she needs to use it--carefully. But inside the house, even with sedation, the dog is out of her mind. Wants to play. Wants to sing and dance and leap in the air. Wants to run downstairs and greet anyone who comes to the door. All of which is proscribed. Last night she was so full of energy and so restless that it was really difficult to deal with her. And really, I don't want to dope her into a stupor, or keep her in her crate all day.

In four weeks she will graduate to half-hour walks twice a day, and thence to fuller and fuller activity. I need to find out at what point "full activity" encompasses "leaps into the air repeatedly for an hour" and, in the meantime, I need to find out if we're jeopardizing her recovery by playing tug of war.

Divided Loyalties

So tonight I took klages to a game at ATT Park, because she'd never been to a game there. The sun was out for the first half of the game, which is nice; then the sun went behind the wall and we began to notice the breeze, and still it was lovely. We ate garlic fries and hotdogs and popcorn, there was much merriment, and the Giants won, which is always plus (Brian Wilson came out for the last inning to put the finishing touch on the game). My only problem? Giants vs. Mets. I have never been a huge team booster no matter what city I lived in, but the Mets are one of my hometown teams, and the Giants are the team of my adopted town, and... What's a mother to do?

Tonight, the Giants played better. I had a grand time. And then we went off for restorative margaritas, because really, it was starting to get chilly.