The Dog

Allie has been happier ever since we moved to this town. It may be the air, the town, or the vibes from the rest of her pack, but she is more calm, in general. We have discovered a great way to walk her too. Actually, we run her. No, we don't run, have you seen me lately? LOL! We bike and she runs beside us, mostly behind us because she doesn't always keep up. It is the BEST way to exercise her without wearing ourselves out, plus it's quicker. So, now that she's not a complete pain in my butt, I have really begun to enjoy caring for her. I won't do her baths though, I did the first one and that's all I'll do, ha! There are only 4 negatives to report about our Allie. One is that, we just learned yesterday, if the window is open and she sees dogs, she will jump right through the screen! She does stop dead in her tracks when I call for her to, so that is great. She ran straight at a man that was walking 2 dogs, and had his small son trailing behind him. And yes, this is still more calm than she was before! Before she would have out right attacked and never responded to my calls. The second is that, because we have windows the whole way across our living room, she can see everything, and boy does she want to get out there! She barks her little heart out! I'm truly surprised she hasn't made herself hoarse yet. One thing she did that I forgot entirely about, is nip at babies smaller than she is! I totally doubted even the idea that she would do such a thing, and then wam!! Out of nowhere, she aimed to nip my best friend's baby last week while they were visiting! She didn't get her, the baby is fine, but we definitely know better now than to allow her near babies again. I remembered in that instant that she had done the same thing to Evan when he was littler and I almost went back to hating her. I got over it quickly though, when we found out the fourth thing. It's not so good at all, and I'd like y'all to please pray for our dog and our budget. Ed took her to the vet the other day, just to get her yearly shots and a physical, etc. Poor girl has a heart murmur due to heart worms, which they assume she got from a mosquito bite! The Vet believes the worms are blocking her heart to the point that it's causing the murmur. So, we were quite shocked and sad, but thank goodness the Vet explained that though it will take some time and money (to the tune of $800.00!!!!), she can fully recover. I hope that he will get a second opinion for the price, but other than that, of course, we are going forward with treatment for her.