Peace has been restored!

After a stressful period of baby gate separations and pack walks, Emily has decided that our dogs mean no harm and are no threat to her. She wasn't aggressive, only scared.  Her growling from behind the fence slowly turned to just cautious curiosity.  She would watch as Dixie and Jax chased and wrestled and I guess she thought it looked like fun.  She soon began wagging her tail and whimpering, as if to tell us "I'm not sure what they are doing...but I think I should be doing it too!"   After a couple of successful one-on-one off leash play times with Dixie and Jax individually, all three got together and it went very smoothly.  Now they are a pack, and my house is paying the price!  Don't get me wrong, keeping three big dogs apart was not easy, and I'm glad that it's over.  But now they are like a tornado!  All three are very rough, very vocal, players.  It's hilarious.  I just wish the hot weather would ease up so that they could safely take their games outside!

Unfortunately, the gates can't come down completely yet.  Emily's play times have to be limited.   Because she is heart worm positive, her poor heart is working much harder than it should have to.  Our dogs could play all day, and Emily can't resist joining in the fun (what a change!).  I feel awful separating them now, because I know she doesn't understand why I am keeping her from her new friends.  She stares at me with her big brown eyes and you can see in the picture below that she has the sad look down!   It's for her own good though so I stand my ground.  She will begin her treatment the first week in October.  Six weeks later, I am hoping for a completely healthy dog.  Emily obviously has an incredible will to live.  I am confident that she will make it through this risky treatment.  The hardest part will be the doggy "bed rest".  She has to stay calm throughout.  Only leash walking, and very limited at that.  In our house, that will be a challenge.  She will have to be left behind when we do our fall hiking and there will be absolutely no playing.  Ideally, she will have her forever home by then.  People are, however, very hesitant  to adopt a dog with heart worm because of the uncertainty, so I'm not holding my breath.  If someone were willing to undergo the process with Emily, they would get a lifetime of loyalty and love from her in return. 

Next week Emily will be spayed.  Going under anesthesia with a heart condition definitely makes the surgery a bit more risky than normal.   I'm a little bit nervous about it, but the vets think that because of her young age she should make it through just fine.  I hope they are right.