Making accommodations

Anytime a new dog comes in there is generally a ripple effect through the pack and we have to make some changes and accommodations to meet the new dog's needs. It's generally a shift in the feeding or sleeping locations or routines and the change may affect some of the dogs but not others. Generally speaking, the routines for the core six of our own dogs remain pretty much the same, but changes are often necessitated by events like Della's injury. 

Currently Della is confined to her crate and on goes out only on a leash. Serena is pretty much following the same routine, the exception of the leash. Theo has been confined indoors due to his leg injury and he's confined to downstairs during the day, but we do let him make the journey up the stair once a day for nighttime sleeping. Delgado has been wearing a cone for over a week now because he was licking at his foot with the amputated toe and it was looking raw again. I put him back on antibiotics as well as pain killers, and it is much improved but the cone won't be coming off any time soon. 

To give Della some peace and quiet, I've been keeping the three smaller fosters, Thor, Callie, and Betty White out in Daneland during the day and in three crates downstairs at night. That's two more crates downstairs than I like to have, but it makes things easier. Callie generally needs to go out at least once during the night and she gets the other fosters up as well, so it's easier if they are in the kitchen and can be swept out the door to the a/c yard all together. The two foster shepherds, Delgado and Greta, have excellent house manners and they've been staying downstairs without crates. I'm still keeping Greta strictly indoors for bonding, weight gain, and security purposes. Delgado has to stay inside because of his foot. 

Greta gets spayed on Wednesday and Callie on Thursday. Greta is inside already, but she'll probably need to be crated mostly after the surgery. She can use one of the downstairs crates during the day I suppose. I'm not sure what she'll do at night. Callie will have her nighttime crate that she can use during the day as well.

I'm not even going to get started on the pill regimen around here right now. It's kind of complicated, there's a lot of sharing, and I know it in my head, but it's still hard to follow. 

The cone is holding, for now, but I don't believe we'll get through two weeks without

needing a replacement, or two. 

The drain is gross, but it's working, and she hasn't been able to reach it.

It should be coming out Wednesday. The stitches will be a couple weeks yet.

All things considered it really looks pretty good.

Here's the scene in my office. Della and Serena's crates and my temporary bed.

It's an inflatable twin, not big enough that Maya wants to share it with me,

but she sleeps on a dog bed under the desk at night. 

Here's the scene downstairs in the kitchen. Thor's crate in back left corner;

Betty White and Callie use the two on the right. That's Theo on a big dog bed

(center rear), and Delgado in the cone with his gimpy left front paw (center front).

It's crowded, it's cozy, but it works.