Chili Dawg Update...

Chili Dawg came home on Thursday night.  It was a hard night for him and for me.  Ryan brought him home around 5:30, just as I was finishing getting the kids' dinner ready.  Ryan needed help getting Chili out of the back seat of his car- Chili was heavily sedated and didn't want to move.  I grabbed a chicken nugget and helped lure him out of the back seat.  Chili gave a yelp of pain, but we were able to get him up and get a towel underneath his body as a sling and get him in the house.  We got him onto his dog bed.  I showed the kids where they could pet him and where they could not pet him.  Noah immediately sat next to him and started stroking his back.  Juliana was terrified and literally tried to climb back inside of me.  When I picked her up, I noticed that we had irritated one of Chili's staples and he had blood running down his side.

Normally, I can handle anything, but I wasn't prepared for what the scar and staples were going to look like.  Combined with the blood, not sleeping and not eating because I was worried, I got light headed and started to sweat.  I had to sit on the floor for a little while until the world stopped spinning.  Once that was done, I was ready to take care of my dog.

The first night, Chili slept on the main floor.  There was no way we were going to allow him to climb all the steps up to our bedroom.  Around 11 o'clock, I awoke to Finchy whining on my side of the bed and I heard Chili barking downstairs.  Finch and I went downstairs.  Chili had gone into the kitchen and couldn't figure out how to turn around with the cone on his head.  I got him turned around and back on his dog bed.  Then I went upstairs and got my pillow and spent the rest of the night on the couch.  Every 2 hours Chili would get up and whine trying to find a more comfortable position.  I would help him adjust and then go back to sleep.  It was a long night.

I am happy to say that that was the only night like that.  Chili refused to sleep downstairs the past few nights.  He takes the steps like a champ, and now goes down the steps too (the first morning, Ryan had to carry him down, because he was afraid, but he has conquered that fear).  Juliana is no longer afraid of him as well.  She gives him hugs and pets him as well.  Noah is still a gentle heart and gives him a hug and kiss every time we leave the house.  You can tell that Chili feels better too, because he greets you at the door when you come home and his tail is wagging- 2 weeks ago he didn't do that.

I'm posting a picture of Chili, but it won't be an up close one of his amputation- for those, you can go to his blog that I have started (I haven't had time to make it anything nice yet, though).  He is still beautiful, just in a different way now.

4 days post amputation