Happy Howl-a-ween!

I'm a dog.  Today Alicia and I got dressed up in costumes to celebrate Halloween.  She went as Waldo, and I went as Waldo's dog, Woof.

I am so excited about this costume.

After our photo shoot (most of which I spent licking her face and making sudden movements so that the picture came out blurry), we went to the vet for our weekly check-up.  Alicia has been a bad girl and has not been posting weekly updates.  So let's just quickly run through my progress with a couple of photos...

10/10. First Day Home.  Bandaged and coned.

10/12. Bandages come off.  Bruised and swollen.

10/13.  "Fort Molly" established to prevent climbing of any sort.
All stairways (not pictured) also block off.

10/17. Still swollen.  Bruising going down.

10/24(ish). Bruising and swelling have gone down.
This picture is upside down and refuses to turn the right way. Sorry.

Alicia's camera seems to have eaten the photos from the day I got my stitches out.  I do not know why. I don't like.  Photos on the iPhone mysteriously skip to this past weekend (aka Frankenstorm).  I don't like Frankenstorm.  Thunder and lightning are fine, but strong winds and heavy rain? I don't like.

Anyway...

10/31.  Dr. approves Molly for chair snuggling.

Check out my scar now!

10/31.  Healing very nicely.  Swelling and bruising gone.
Putting lots of weight and walking normal.

The doc says that I am making terrific progress and that I'm a good girl.  The only bad news out of today's appointment is that I developed a double ear infection.  We're not sure how or why, but it happened, so now Alicia has to clean my ears daily and put ointment in them.  I don't like.  She also won't let me scratch my ears.  I really don't like.  But at least I get to sleep in my chair again!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

I'm a dog.  After Matt and Alicia abandoned me at the Columbia Pike Animal Hospital on Tuesday, Dr. Hall cut open my leg and wired it back together with Kevlar.  He sewed me back up, gave me a big dose of narcotics and antibiotics and locked me in a crate overnight to sleep it off.  I did NOT like.  Thankfully, the next day, Matt and Alicia came back for me!

When they came to get me I was all shakes and wiggles.  I could hardly keep myself still.  They usually like that, but this time they kept saying things like "Good girl. Just relax. Okay...Good girl...Lay down." On the plus side, since they were under strict orders to not let me lick or fuss with my bandages, Alicia let me lick her face instead!  She never lets me do that.  On the minus side, when I didn't listen, they put on the "cone of shame."

Trying to get to my bandages.

Decked out in my Ecollar for the ride home.

Dr. Hall said that I bled a lot during surgery, because I'm such a muscular dog.  When Matt told him I'd lost a lot of my muscle due to the injury, the doc was impressed.  I had torn my cruciate ligament all the way through and also my meniscus.  There was no way I should have been able to walk as well as I had been, but mind over matter, right?  Those squirrels needed to be chased and those dogs needed to be played with.  I had to fulfill my end of the bargain.

When I got out of the car at home, the first thing I did was pee.  I peed for a whole minute.  Seriously.  I was saving it up.  I am a well-trained puppy, and I know better than to go to the bathroom inside, so I held it from Tuesday morning at 8am until Wednesday night at 8pm. 36 hours.  Thank goodness I'm on antibiotics, or that could've caused a urinary infection.

Moving around with the bandages was challenging.  I walked kind of like a peg-leg pirate.  I was okay with that, though.  What I didn't like was that I had to wear the "cone of shame."  It is really hard to get comfortable with a peg leg and a cone of shame.  Even heavily medicated, I just couldn't sleep.  Thankfully, Matt slept on the couch next to my bed, and helped me when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Settled in on my bed.

Asleep and snuggled in a blankie.
I love my new bed! It's a Serta!

Finally! A nap without a cone!

Matt and Alicia have been really wonderful about almost everything.  They keep giving me peanut butter by the spoonful.  They think I don't realize my medication is inside, but I do.  But why swallow medication on its own when you can get it wrapped in peanut butter? And even though they keep guiding my head away from my sutures, they have been letting me lick their faces and carrying me up and down stairs and out to the lawn so I can do my business.

Living the peg-leg life.

This afternoon we went back to see Dr. Hall and I was so excited.  I was sleeping in the car, but jumped up and tried to get into the vet's office as soon as possible when the car turned off.  Dr. Hall took off my bandages and had the vet tech put me down on the ground to see how much weight I'd put on my leg.  I just started walking around like it was no big deal.  All the doc could say was "Now, now that...that's unusual" and then he warned Matt and Alicia that even though my spirits are high and I want to walk, I needed to rest and relax.

Waiting for Dr. Hall, so he can remove my bandages.

So now I'm home and recuperating.  I keep trying to lick my sutures and Alicia keeps stopping me.  I also keep trying to walk around and they keep making me lay down. I. DON'T. LIKE! I'm a puppy!  I want to do what I want to do.  I mean, look at me!  I'm totally healed!

My "good" side.

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN UNLESS YOU ARE OKAY WITH BRUISED AND STITCHED PUPS!


SERIOUSLY, IT LOOKS GROSS!


DESPITE HOW BAD IT LOOKS, I FEEL GREAT!


BUT IT DOES LOOK GROSS!


WARNING: My leg looks awful, but it's just healing.  If you don't like the look of lot of bruises and stitches, just stop reading now and consider this post finished.  But, if you want to see my leg, read on.

Bandages off.  Ecollar removed. Time to sleep.

Bruised and battered, but on the road to recovery.

I'll keep you updated as to how my healing goes!

Going Under the Knife

I'm a dog. Remember how in my last post, I told you about how my leg got better and stopped wearing my brace? Well, then just two weeks ago, I somehow hurt my leg again.  I don't know how I did it, but it happened.  And I haven't really been putting any weight on it since.  So, I've been wearing my brace again, but it's clear that this time the injury is more severe.  That's why I'm headed for CCL surgery on Tuesday morning.  I've already expressed to Matt and Alicia that "I don't like" and that we should just keep using the brace and let it heal on it's own, but they say it's important to do the surgery, so that I can have it repaired, rest it and allow it to heal completely.

They're going to have to put me under anesthesia for the procedure and I'm going to need to stay overnight.  If any dog ever loved going to the vet, it's me.  But I'm still already dreading a night in the animal hospital, and so are Matt and Alicia.  It's going to be a bit of a road to recovery, but I'll keep you updated on my progress.  And I'll make sure Alicia posts more often, as I know there are a lot of people who will want to know what's going on.  In the meantime, keep me in your thoughts and prayers.  And check out how cute I am in this photo!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I'm a dog.  I love summer.  The best part of summer is that the pool is open and all the little kids love the pool, so when I walk by, they stick their fingers through the fence and exclaim things such as "dog!" and "cow!" and "puppies...puppies...puppies!"  It makes me feel good inside to know that they're excited to see me.  And then I lick their hands and faces to show my appreciation.  Another great part about summer is that Alicia is around during the day and we go out on lots of walks, and I also get to go out on car trips to places like PetSmart!  As usual, Alicia made sure to take tons of photos to document our fun times together.  Here's a small sampling...

Keeping cool by lounging in the tall grass.

Chewing on a random mini tennis ball found on a walk.

Playing hide and seek

On the way to PetSmart! I love car rides!

Taking a water break on our way to the dog park.

Lounging by the pool, waiting for little kids to lick.

Making silly faces for the camera

Happy, panty puppy!

Practicing my skills on the balance beam.

Hide and seek in the ivy

You found me!

Enjoying the beautiful  end-of-summer weather

Oops. I ate Alicia's book when she went to trivia.
I told her not to go, and she didn't listen.
Then this happened.

Kisses with Matthew

Hey lady! Get in the car and let's go!

And that's pretty much my summer!  One thing you might notice is that I'm not wearing my leg brace in any of those photos.  That's because my leg healed and I got back the pep in my step, so we stopped using the brace for August and September.  It was great!  I say was because, well, just stay tuned.

Take Your Puppy to Work Day

I'm a dog.  Today I got to visit a place that I've never been before: a library!  Alicia took me with her to school today while she worked on some projects and got organized for the upcoming school year.

Molly Manute: Library Dog!

 After I sniffed around and checked out the collection, I decided to test the furniture.

What a comfy couch!

I was resting on the couch when one of Alicia's colleagues came by with her daughter.  We hung out for a bit.  I sniffed and licked the little girl's toes and she gave me pets.  It was great!

Then I went back to the couch and did some more resting.  It's a hard life for a pup!

Favorite Places: The Pool!

I'm a dog.  You may remember that at the end of last summer, I went a pool party called the "doggie dip."  It was great!  I hated the pool part, but I LOVED all the dogs.

They don't let the dogs into the pool area during the summer, but that's fine by me.  I just like to see what's going on.  And during the summer, the pool is filled with my favorite people: BABIES*!

I drag Matt and Alicia to the pool every day just so that we can see who is there and I can try to entice the walking babies to toddle on over to me and let me lick their hands and faces while they point at me, pet me and say things like "Dog!" and "Cow!" (understandable) and (my personal favorite) "Puppies! Puppies! Puppies!"

Walking the pool perimeter (outside the fence).

Watching the kids!

Getting a closer look

Let me in! I want to play!

I am the Puppy Pool Queen!

So happy to be here!

I can't wait until the "doggie dip" comes around again.  It should be in just a few weeks.  I haven't decided whether or not I want to go in the pool this time, but I got some good practice being in the water up to my chest when we went to a Chesapeake Bay beach one afternoon. Of course, that's also the day that I drank a gallon of bay water and ate a pound of sand**, so I wasn't really making good decisions that day. We shall see!

*My new best friends are my year-old baby neighbors Bea and Luke.  They love to see me, and I love to lick them. We have a great time. Other than stealing their toys, I'm a gentle good girl with them.

** I was puking bay water for 12 hours and then pooping bay sand for another 12 hours! It was not fun.

I'm A Big Girl!

I'm a dog.  Not a puppy.  But a real dog.  The proof is in my food.  Over the summer we transitioned from my puppy kibble (Nature's Recipe Lamb and Rice) to my big girl food (Nature's Recipe Lamb and Rice)!

Same flavor, different age.

Giving the new food a tentative sniff.

And then a "taste test."

The new food and the old food mixed together while I transition.

The transition went great!

But then Alicia went off-script and when it was time to buy more adult food, she bought a bag of Nature's Recipe Chicken, Pumpkin and Sweet Potato.  Matthew wasn't happy that she bought a more expensive and different food without discussing it first, but not only did my digestive track LOVE the new flavor, my mouth did too!  Now, instead of slowly eating my food and tossing it all around the kitchen while I eat, I hunker down and eat the whole thing.  And when I poop, it smells like pumpkin and sweet potatoes! The end.

Family Vacation 2012

I'm a dog. If I had opposable thumbs, this post would have gone up over a month ago, but alas, Alicia had other things to do and said she'd get around to it when she got around to it.  Fast forward a month and a half, and you still have no idea what I did on family vacation this year! So, here are the highlights:

Morning, afternoon and evening walks on the beach.

Sniffed things on the beach!

Laid out on the stoop.

Slept on the stoop.

Snuggled up to horseshoe crabs.

Sniffed horseshoe crabs.

Didn't get to see amazing sunsets because
Matt and Alicia left me at home while they
went out to dinner.

Played with dogs on the beach!

Went out into the bay water...

And got surprised by waves!

Fell asleep on the couch when no one was looking.

Climbed up on the couch when Matthew went to get a drink.

Rode in the car!

What a great trip!