I talked to the vet when I picked the puppy up last night. The burns on her belly look kind of like acid-type burns. Brian & I wonder if it could’ve been an accident – I would think if anyone were cruel enough to pour acid on a puppy, it’d be all over instead of localized. Still she’s had a hard start and she’s only 7-9 weeks old, so we’re taking it slow and being as gentle as possible.
We decided to let Taylor meet the puppy. We sat her down for a little talk and explained that I had picked up a puppy who is very sick, “so we need to be very gentle.” We told her that she couldn’t play right now and that we need to use quiet voices. We’ve got some pictures of her petting the puppy and they’ll be posted soon, I’m sure.
We also decided to get her a doghouse/igloo kind of thing so, while Taylor & puppy were visiting, I went back in and got my coat on to sneak away. As I was going down the stairs to the garage, Brian knocked on the garage window. I went out and he said, “Taylor, tell mommy what you want to name the puppy.” She said, “Skipper, like Ariel’s!” She also said something about them both of Skippers at their houses – it was sweet. We didn’t discourage the duplicate name because Skipper was also Brian’s dog’s name when he was a kid and it was also his dad’s dog’s name. So, it’s kind of a family name! Oh! Taylor was getting cold so went to go back inside for her sweater. Skipper had gone back to her favorite spot between the planter and the a/c unit. As Taylor walked off, she motioned to Skipper and said, “Come on Skipper!” (No, Skipper didn’t go but it was sweet!)
After Taylor was in bed, Brian & I went back outside to give Skipper her medicine. We were also tick hunting because I thought I found one earler. It turned out to be matted fur. The medicine is liquid and she’s suppose to be given 1 ml twice a day. Does the little eye dropper thing fill up all the way to the 1 ml mark? Of course not! I do have experience making an animal open its mouth – I don’t like it b/c it looks painful. I also noticed her teeth and they look pretty sharp! Anyway, I finally got it open enough that Brian could squeeze the medicine in. We managed the 2nd half (in which Skipper’s even more determined NOT to open her mouth) then Brian offered her a treat. She very matter of factly turned her head away from him – it was so funny! Very defiant, very “I don’t like you right now, I’m not taking anything from you.”
I got her medicine in her this morning and then was holding her, wrapped in her towel and noticed she was shivering. It was sad – I don’t know if she was cold or scared. I held her a little closer and told her she has nothing to fear from me then she rested her head on my chest with her nose toward my neck… it was really sweet. This is the first day home alone. She’s in her house with her towels and a mat. I have an absorbent pad out for her and showed it to her. So far she hasn’t gotten in or out of her house on her own… I’m half expecting to have to wash towels and mat when I get home.