CODY AT 6 MONTHS
Bad puppy = bad health for puppy’s owner. I have become an expert.
Cody is now over 7 months old, and thankfully is calming down a bit. So I guess we’ll keep her (not that there really was ever any doubt in that regard).
After all, the broken foot really wasn’t her fault. I had her outside on leash and the stupid next-door neighbor gave her 10-year-old son a power saw to chop down an 8’ rose bush running up the side of the neighbor’s house. As if the noise from the saw wasn’t enough, said rose bush then started toppling toward my house and looked like it was going to knock down my 6′ privacy fence. Fortunately, said neighbor’s 8’ high trampoline prevented the fall onto the fence. Unfortunately, the whole event startled Cody, who yanked me off the sidewalk, making me twist my foot and break the fifth metatarsal bone.
Of course, being me, I refused to believe it was, in fact, broken. We were taking my mother-in-law out for dinner that evening, and I insisted on going anyway. After hobbling into and out of the restaurant, and barely picking at my food, my husband insisted we take my mother-in-law home and then head to the ER.
The ER was not staffed with the A team that evening. Even the x-ray tech questioned why an ankle x-ray had been ordered when I clearly was complaining of foot pain. Sure ‘nuff, an hour later I was returned to radiology for the foot x-ray. Yep – broken.
On the bright side, I did get a week off work and was given a really cool “designer” boot (see photo) and a brand new pair of really shiny crutches.
However, the velcro on the boot gives me a discernibly crunchy/squeaky gait, which I’ve been told is annoying to some of my co-workers. Oh well. Would they rather have continued to cover for me while I rested up at home? I think not.
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As I said, thankfully Cody is growing up. The beginning was rough. I had forgotten just how much work a new puppy could be, and how little sleep the owner gets. I had forgotten that puppies chew on EVERYTHING, including shoes, books, rugs, and couches.
Thankfully, pretty much everything in my house is old and needs to be replaced anyway. We learned quickly to remove all breakables from puppy’s reach – although we did at times fail to realize just how high puppy could jump or climb. And, we had totally forgotten about FRAP (frenetic random activity periods), when puppy goes berserk, runs from one end of the house to the other, jumping on and off furniture and flying up and down steps. It’s a wonder she didn’t break all four of her legs.
Fortunately, the FRAP times have become sporatic. But in a way, I sort of miss them.
CODY AT 7 MONTHS
And thankfully, Cody has pretty much learned that she is NOT sleeping with me, and the battles over who occupies the bed/couch have become rare. Good thing – now that’s she’s over 40 lbs., she could probably win that battle (but we won’t tell her that, will we?)
Yes, Cody is growing up. She has become loving and cuddly most of the time. And once my broken foot heals, we will begin to enjoy each other again.
Unless stupid neighbor decides her son needs a rocket launcher.
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Images by: Cordelia’s Mom
Cordelia's Mom, Still 