Day Five, July 18, 2009

Morning:

I figured the food amount was wrong. Toy dogs are SO hard for me to feed the right amount. I went ahead and gave him 2 tbsp of food this morning. I suspect that's what it will be tonight, too, and then I'll see where I am. He was so hungry last night I had to give him a bit more. Then I forgot to put his water in his crate (we use a small bowl that is attached to the crate), and he was horribly thirsty this morning. We'd been waiting to put it in until right before bedtime because we've been leaving the door open for him to go in if he wanted to. Haley tanks up on water when she's bored, and she's been known to drain that small bowl. So to prevent forgetting it again, we'll try to put it in while doing after dinner cleanup and then just shut the door to the crate. He's out now all the time, so he's not nearly in need of a refuge as he had been earlier in the week.

He's also still having itching problems, though he's now concentrating on his feet rather than scratching his belly. Randall mowed yesterday and it's supposed to rain today, so I'm hoping that will calm down whatever it is he's allergic to. If it doesn't rain, we'll hose down the dog half of the yard a bit, and if that doesn't work, I'll need to call the vet again.

Afternoon/Evening:

Another combo post. I suspect that's what I'm going to do from here on out since Elvis is calming down so nicely. No question he still has a long way to go, but he's made remarkable strides since Monday afternoon. Hard to believe he's only been here five full days.

The itching has stopped. It's apparently sporadic, so it's obviously something he's only getting into in a part of the yard. I'll keep an eye on it and see if I can't come up with some sort of alternative itch remedy if it gets bad.

Randall went in to lay down for a few minutes and Elvis was very unhappily staring through the gate at him. I finally relented and let he and Haley in and put both of them up on the bed for a few minutes. Quite intriguing. :) Elvis also really ate up the petting. He's getting better and better with this. His preference is a person either sitting or laying down, which makes sense, and he's not too happy when you come down over him...something most small dogs detest.

We've had the gate down between the kitchen and living room. I went in to do some needlework and took Haley's pillow in for her. Skeeter has HIS spot next to me on my chair and under the light (heat seeking chi-chi), and Elvis just really wasn't sure what to do. He really wanted up on the chair, but there was a) no room and b) Skeeter wouldn't have tolerated it. He finally laid down, but not until he spent some time gazing at the couch. We're going to have him out while we eat tonight, so it will be interesting to see if he watches us eat, wants up on the couch, or watches TV. He'll get to come in tonight while we finish our movie, and I suspect he will want up on the couch.

Poor Elvis. He was standing right by the drawer in the kitchen where we keep the cookie sheets and tray that Randall uses to carry in the stuff to set the table when Randall put the tray up and swung around not knowing he was anywhere near. Absolutely terrified him and he bolted into the den. I got him to come in to the living room with us for dinner, but he was/is seriously spooked and spent the meal under the table by my feet. We'll take him in with us in a bit when we go to watch the movie, so hopefully that will help. It wouldn't surprise me if this didn't set him back a bit, but he at least came right to us both rather than hiding under a piece of furniture. So he is learning humans are trusted for reassurance...we just make some awfully loud noises sometimes!

He did want up on the couch tonight and it was the first time he was comfortable enough to lay down in my lap. He's still traumatized from the tray banging, but I think he'll get over it in the next day or so. I'll be cooking tomorrow, and I imagine he'll tolerate the banging for all the good smells.

I swear the more I'm around him, the more I'd like to tear the puppy mill owner who had him limb from limb. It is absolutely criminal to have an animal behave the way he does because he's never had any socialization or experience outside a pen.