life with a new doggy...
So, it's been some number of days since we adopted Kia. Things are going well, but it's just a little stressful.
We've had a couple of fights so far, though only one really bad one. That was yesterday (well, technically two days ago, since it's after midnight now ^_^;; so let's say Tuesday for clarification). Mom and I went out to the library and to pick up some bandanas and a name tag for Kia. We had her crated while we were gone, since we really don't feel comfortable letting them stay home alone like that just yet. (We're crating Kia while they both eat and at night, too.) We let her out when we got back, and that was fine. But Zora was saying hi to me near an unopened bag of dog food that we bought Monday, and Kia got a little too close to the food. (Pretty sure that's what sparked it.)
Zora attacked Kia, and they fought. I tried to pull them apart, but I could only get at Zora (Mom was downstairs at the time) and Kia kept going. They did stop after I yelled at them (okay, it was more like a scream, but it worked), and we got them separated by putting Kia in the room. That's when we noticed that Zora was bleeding, and it was coming from really close to her eye. Like just barely on her bottom eyelid, though it didn't look like it was too bad when we got a look at it. Kia was fine when we checked her, and they actually got along just fine after that. (We put the bag of food in a closet and put the container with the remainder of Zora's current food up on the counter, which solved that problem.) We did take Zora to the vet that afternoon, just to make sure nothing was wrong. Luckily, the vet said everything was superficial. (Though Zora was really lucky - just a little higher and it would have been her eye *shudders*.)
And really, we understood from the beginning that there would probably be some fights. It doesn't help during the actual fight, of course, but we were ready. (And so far it's nothing anywhere near as bad as the fights that Missy and Zoe got in years ago that ended up with Missy being put down... >_<)
Today (yesterday, technically) we had no fights, yay! ^_^; A little bit of wrestling that's half play, half working out dominance issues, but no snapping, snarling, biting fights. Though that's not to say that we had no blood. It was an accident, though.
See, Kia's really enthusiastic, and she loves to play. Zora's older, though she still has some play left in her. Of course, when she's trying to go to the bathroom, that's not a play time. So today, Zora was getting ready to do her duty when Kia decided that she wanted to play. When Kia wants to play, she runs at you full speed. Normally Zora dodges, and either leaves if she doesn't want to play, or joins in if she does. This time she was kinda busy, and Kia ended up crashing into her and essentially headbutting her, catching her under the chin with the top of her head, we think.
We literally heard the cracking of her head against Zora's chin from halfway across the yard. I thought it was Zora snapping at her at first. (And for good reason.) Then Zora came in, and there was blood. She bit her tongue when Kia collided with her. Mom handled that one much better than I did. (I really don't do blood very well, even though I apparently did something very much the same to my own tongue when I was little... I don't remember that, happily.)
Once we got the blood cleaned up, it turned out to not be all that bad. At least, it stopped bleeding. Zora was a little sensitive drinking for a while, but she was back to normal by dinner time. Still, ouch.
Aside from the two bloody incidents, it's mostly good. Kia will lie down and make herself comfortable pretty much anywhere, no matter what's under her. She really likes laps and snuggling. And if, say, she's up on something with her head leaning on you and you try to get up, she'll just let her body slide down to the floor. She doesn't even try to stay up. (It was really funny.) She tends to wriggle around a lot, too. It's quite adorable. Though she's starting to get into the habit of gently biting our hands if she doesn't think we're petting her enough. Kinda like a puppy.
So yeah, that's my update on life with a new doggy. Just a bit bloody, but worth it anyway. And I really do think it's all going to work out in the end. ^_^;
As for the rest of life, it's July... and time for Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm 13,000 words in already, and my main character is just starting to find out what happened while he was asleep. Well, some of it. And he's also learned that he's now mated to an alien. I don't think he's very happy about that part. ^_^; I'll probably post some of it soon. (I have three finished chapters.) It's still pretty rough, though. (Hell, I haven't even looked over it yet.)
And maybe one of these days I'll post some crochet pictures. I've been doing hats lately. Mostly slouchy beret/tam type ones. Oh, and a couple of doilies. One from sock yarn, and one from worsted that will be more like a lap blanket when I'm done with it! ^_^;
We've had a couple of fights so far, though only one really bad one. That was yesterday (well, technically two days ago, since it's after midnight now ^_^;; so let's say Tuesday for clarification). Mom and I went out to the library and to pick up some bandanas and a name tag for Kia. We had her crated while we were gone, since we really don't feel comfortable letting them stay home alone like that just yet. (We're crating Kia while they both eat and at night, too.) We let her out when we got back, and that was fine. But Zora was saying hi to me near an unopened bag of dog food that we bought Monday, and Kia got a little too close to the food. (Pretty sure that's what sparked it.)
Zora attacked Kia, and they fought. I tried to pull them apart, but I could only get at Zora (Mom was downstairs at the time) and Kia kept going. They did stop after I yelled at them (okay, it was more like a scream, but it worked), and we got them separated by putting Kia in the room. That's when we noticed that Zora was bleeding, and it was coming from really close to her eye. Like just barely on her bottom eyelid, though it didn't look like it was too bad when we got a look at it. Kia was fine when we checked her, and they actually got along just fine after that. (We put the bag of food in a closet and put the container with the remainder of Zora's current food up on the counter, which solved that problem.) We did take Zora to the vet that afternoon, just to make sure nothing was wrong. Luckily, the vet said everything was superficial. (Though Zora was really lucky - just a little higher and it would have been her eye *shudders*.)
And really, we understood from the beginning that there would probably be some fights. It doesn't help during the actual fight, of course, but we were ready. (And so far it's nothing anywhere near as bad as the fights that Missy and Zoe got in years ago that ended up with Missy being put down... >_<)
Today (yesterday, technically) we had no fights, yay! ^_^; A little bit of wrestling that's half play, half working out dominance issues, but no snapping, snarling, biting fights. Though that's not to say that we had no blood. It was an accident, though.
See, Kia's really enthusiastic, and she loves to play. Zora's older, though she still has some play left in her. Of course, when she's trying to go to the bathroom, that's not a play time. So today, Zora was getting ready to do her duty when Kia decided that she wanted to play. When Kia wants to play, she runs at you full speed. Normally Zora dodges, and either leaves if she doesn't want to play, or joins in if she does. This time she was kinda busy, and Kia ended up crashing into her and essentially headbutting her, catching her under the chin with the top of her head, we think.
We literally heard the cracking of her head against Zora's chin from halfway across the yard. I thought it was Zora snapping at her at first. (And for good reason.) Then Zora came in, and there was blood. She bit her tongue when Kia collided with her. Mom handled that one much better than I did. (I really don't do blood very well, even though I apparently did something very much the same to my own tongue when I was little... I don't remember that, happily.)
Once we got the blood cleaned up, it turned out to not be all that bad. At least, it stopped bleeding. Zora was a little sensitive drinking for a while, but she was back to normal by dinner time. Still, ouch.
Aside from the two bloody incidents, it's mostly good. Kia will lie down and make herself comfortable pretty much anywhere, no matter what's under her. She really likes laps and snuggling. And if, say, she's up on something with her head leaning on you and you try to get up, she'll just let her body slide down to the floor. She doesn't even try to stay up. (It was really funny.) She tends to wriggle around a lot, too. It's quite adorable. Though she's starting to get into the habit of gently biting our hands if she doesn't think we're petting her enough. Kinda like a puppy.
So yeah, that's my update on life with a new doggy. Just a bit bloody, but worth it anyway. And I really do think it's all going to work out in the end. ^_^;
As for the rest of life, it's July... and time for Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm 13,000 words in already, and my main character is just starting to find out what happened while he was asleep. Well, some of it. And he's also learned that he's now mated to an alien. I don't think he's very happy about that part. ^_^; I'll probably post some of it soon. (I have three finished chapters.) It's still pretty rough, though. (Hell, I haven't even looked over it yet.)
And maybe one of these days I'll post some crochet pictures. I've been doing hats lately. Mostly slouchy beret/tam type ones. Oh, and a couple of doilies. One from sock yarn, and one from worsted that will be more like a lap blanket when I'm done with it! ^_^;