Time flies with a friend!

Wow! Today marks 1 month since we began fostering Daisy. Time has flown given all that has changed in her life since January 20th. Daisy is making tons of progress.  Some real and fun milestones:

• Building muscle climbing stairs to do everything and anything around here
• Learned to finish her food before Alba swoops in on her bowl
• Got spayed and figured out how to avoid the dreaded e-collar for 10 days
• Willingly gets out of the car rather than gluing herself to the floor
• Added about 3lbs since we picked her up
• Peacefully enjoys her curly bully stick while I work out on the treadmill
• Entered Pet Food Express with Alba's encouragement
• Walking the streets of San Francisco with A LOT more confidence

They were mid-play and stopped to pose for this photo

You just can't resist that smile! 

Taking a break from their antics

Conquering her fears will still take more time (our vet said she has only 1 confident Vizsla in her practice!), but she has so much love to give and is a quick learner. Training and more socialization is really the next major focus for Daisy, but she's ready to learn!

Tails of the City

Just as we fell in love with San Francisco watching Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series on PBS during wintry evenings in Boston, slowly but surely Miss Daisy is having more fun adventures as she feels her way around San Francisco.

Daisy takes in the views from Liberty Hill

Daisy (left) and Alba (right) soaking up the views at Corona Heights

Crissy Field and stunning Golden Gate views

By the way, Crissy Field was exactly what the doctor ordered. Pure unadulterated running in the grass chasing Alba was quite the cure-all! (at least temporarily :-)

Q-tips Ceremony

The Q-tips® obsession continues. Alba LOVES being Q-tips'ed. She lays on her back and groans, and is happy to be flipped over to have her other ear cleaned. I've used 20 Q-tips on her before, she couldn't care less if there was anything to be cleaned - it's like an ear massage for her.

Alba prepares for her Q-tips therapy

Daisy the Q-tips thief surprisingly likes having her ears Q-tips'ed as well, despite her obsession with taking them out of the trash and chewing on them. She's not quite as malleable as Alba in terms of getting her in the best position to clean them, but close enough!

Daisy is ready for her Q-tips cleaning

It's just Saturday morning entertainment folks!

Going Coneless

We are Day 4 post-surgery and things are going well (knock on wood desk). As the post title suggests, Daisy is "going coneless". The first cone didn't fit and why would any dog willingly wear a cone? We certainly follow dr's orders on everything else, but since Daisy is under 24-hour supervision right now, there have been no signs of trying to itch the incision area, so why make a super shy and fearful dog even more uncomfortable and fearful?

Daisy stays safe under the table (note her shaved belly)

Since gambling is not really our thing, yesterday I ordered a Novagard. It is made by an Australian company, Provizor International. They make protective gear for equines and canines. Our holistic vet at SFVS, Dr. David Fong, DVM, LAc, Dipl OM, mentioned one of his clients had ordered an Optivizor after his dog's eye surgery, and when Alba had to have a low-grade melanoma growth removed from her eye a couple years ago, we used the Optivizor instead of a cone. It gave her more range of motion, but more importantly protected the stitches around her eye for over two weeks. It was not fun, but she could see and move better, and of course eat better too. And you can trim them to fit your dog. They are pretty genius products.

The Novagard is an alternative to the Elizabethan collar, and I ordered both the Novagard and Optivizor from Big Dee's Tack & Vet Supplies. I don't know why more vets carry these products - it is such a better and more customized alternative to the e-collar or cone.

So now we have cone insurance for Daisy (well it won't really arrive in time - but that's what insurance is like, right?) so we're hoping to sail through the next 6 days carefree and bully-stick happy.

Coneless is not a dirty word

Daisy's resolve

Yesterday Daisy was spayed. Having been to the vet the previous week, she was no more excited to be carried through the door again, regardless of what awaited her.

The vet called midday to let me know that the surgery was successful, and confirmed Daisy was not in heat again. I would pick her up at the end of the day when she had had more fluids and was more alert.

The vet fitted the Comfy Cone on her but it was clearly disrupting her vision and balance. We made it into the car, pulled away and in less than 3 minutes she had the cone off!

The one thing we've noticed about Daisy is that she doesn't cry or complain. We have accidentally stepped on her paws or bumped into her, never mind the pain of surgery. Not a peep. It's actually been very difficult to tell whether she is in pain post-surgery, so we are managing the meds on regular intervals. She just wants to be as close to us as possible, never letting us out of her sight.

Today I kept her quiet, which was actually easier than it seemed at first. Let's see how the next 9 days go!

The Q-tips Thief

Yep, someone likes chewing on Q-tips!

Another breakthrough for Daisy

Daisy had a great start to her Saturday. After romping with Alba in the backyard first thing when they woke up, they continued to tussle before and after breakfast. Time for some exercise.

While Daisy loves the sound of her collar, harness and leash coming out and being put on her, she is reluctant to walk out the front door. She immediately starts to back up and retreat, after all the excitement about getting ready to go out. Rather than pulling her after 5 minutes of trying to get her to come willingly, I carried her out the front door and once on the sidewalk she was fine. We are working on her reluctance and resistance issues.

Normally we walk Alba in the neighborhood, hit the farmer's market, and back home - about 2.5 miles or so. We were less ambitious for Daisy's outing, sticking to part of our normal walking route - away from big crowds and traffic on 24th Street. With a brisk pace she is good on the leash, with lots of verbal encouragement.

Alba (left), Daisy (right)

After our walk, we wanted to take the girls to a nearby dog park which is small and only gravel, but it is double-gated and well-fenced, so there are no escape routes. We've taken Daisy there before, but when I've tried to take her without Alba, she won't get out of the car. It did take some coaxing and scooting her out of the car, but again, once she was out of her "safe place" inside the car, she was good to go. So much so that once we got inside the double-gates, we let her off-leash.

Daisy (right) lets loose in a public dog park

The girls chased each other around a bit, and Daisy explored with some new confidence - her tail up for the most part. It is a pretty boring park IMHO (no grass, smallish space) but a safe place to get her familiar and let her off-leash. She took a nice nap after all the intense outside exposure!