What a Scare

So, today my husband woke up with swollen, red eyes. He walked up to me while I was drying my hair and, with a concerned look on his face, said, "I think we have a problem." My first thought was, "Do you have pink eye in both eyes?" until I realized it was an allergy. Within a few hours, it only got worse, and after coming home to visit Maddie during his lunch break, he started feeling like his chest was tight. Matt is allergic to cats, but never dogs. I was really sure it was just because Maddie hadn't had a bath yet. But then, when his allergy seemed to be getting worse while he was at work, he started worrying more, and so did I.

By the time I got home from work, I started crying. All day, I kept telling myself we would not have to give her back to the shelter. I kept telling myself not to overreact. But then, after hearing how bad Matt's allergy was getting, it hit me for the first time that I might really have to return my little girl to the shelter. And I started crying. Maddie licked me a whole bunch and even laid down beside me like she wanted me to feel better. Then, she started running around the room with her toys and that distracted me quite well. She does the cutest things. She discovered a cardboard crate that previously had water bottles in it, and she likes to drag it around. She gets scared if it flips over. She also thought it would be fun to put her toys inside it. It's so funny to me how she has decided that one spot by the front door is her own toy spot. She keeps taking her toys and clustering them over there.

We went to the vet for her check-up, and he said she is a very healthy puppy. Her stitches from her spay can come out next week, which I am very excited about! Maddie is doing a great job listening when I tell her to stop scratching, but I know the poor girl is itching like crazy. She was scared of the other dogs at the vet, but she loved all the people. She wanted to lick everyone. Our vet said that very rarely are people allergic to dogs and that Matt is probably allergic to her dander. I explained to him that I haven't bathed her because the lady at the humane society told me not to let her stitches get wet. He said that her stitches look good, though, and that he definitely thinks I should bathe her, get Matt some antihistemines, and all should be fine. I left there a very happy and thankful puppy mom.

She is so brilliant. Today she scratched the door to go outside, went to the bathroom out there, and then ran into her crate unprompted when she got back inside! She is getting the hang of crate training and is starting to like her crate more. I had to leave her for several hours longer than normal to go to work today, and she was so excited to see me when I got home.

She did not like her bath at all. She was very scared and tried to jump away from the water. She definitely liked being wet, though! She grabbed her squeaky toy that looks like a cat and kept running all around our house with it. She also snagged her mommy's camera by the handle, ran through the house with it, and slung it in the kitchen before mommy could catch her. My camera was fine, though, and she was just having fun. She calmed down alot after she dried off, and now she feels super soft. And clean. And daddy is feeling much better.

The realization that I could lose her today made me so much more thankful for her. I knew she was a great fit for us, but you always have doubts about whether or not you made the best possible decision, especially since we made the decision so quickly. Today I realized our Maddie could not be a more perfect pet for us. Thinking about having to give her up made me realize that even though it's only been two days, she has already become a part of my family. All I could think about were her unique characteristics and how no other dog could ever be her to us again. I remember looking at her toys and thinking that if we did have to give her back to the shelter, I would want to give them all her toys as well because she loves them all so much.

I want to play with her every day like I did when I thought I might have to say goodbye.