First of all, thank you so much for the kind words everyone!  I am just now looking at my blog after posting the news and I am overwhelmed by the support.  So again, seriously, thank you!  I am very happy to report that Maggie and Tag appear to be back to business as usual: loving and cuddling each other, Buddy, and Rich and I.

I think we did the right thing by taking things slow, but not too slow.  My gut told me not to keep them separated too long and risk creating an issue that might not actually be there.  As I type this, both girls are curled around each other next to me on the couch, and my heart is happy.  Stressed, but happy.

Dakota.

Why am I still stressed and why is this post entitled, “And The Saga Continues..”?  I wasn’t kidding when I said I would never allow this to happen again which means I have been strict about keeping the dogs separate when we aren’t home.  By Thursday evening we were feeling a little trapped in the house and decided to go out to dinner.  Tag and Maggie were still somewhat drowsy from the pain medicine so I decided to leave Maggie loose in the extra room and crate Tag in our bedroom while leaving Buddy loose in the living room.  The extra bedroom was “Maggie’s” after the incident and that was where she had spent the majority of her time so I felt it was best to leave her there.  My thinking was this would be the least stressful scenario for her; I put her new Thunder Jacket on her and assumed she would just fall asleep on the nest I had made for her on top of the bed.  Wrong.  We came home to a torn up door with slobbery blood all around.  Ok, crating it is then.

Tattoos! Food Truck!

Friday was the first full day that we left the dogs alone since the incident.  I put Buddy in a crate in the extra bedroom, Tag in a crate in our bedroom, and Maggie in her new “Maggie-proof” crate in the living room.  Ha!  We came home from work at 5 and were greeted at the door by our little Moo–with fresh blood running down her face.  Yup, she smashed right through the new, wooden, solid, “Maggie-proof” crate probably within a few minutes of us leaving.   Ok, so that’s not going to work either.

Face Painting!

Saturday Buddy was due for his annual HW test where I learned he has Ehrlichia, a tick borne disease.  Great.  Another dog issue.  I then had to be at an adoption/fundraising event (see photos throughout this post) for a good portion of the day so Rich dutifully stayed home to keep an eye on our little rascals.  Not long after I got home Rich went to run an errand.  I stayed home so we wouldn’t have to crate them…but soon I got a call from Rich saying his car battery was dead so I had no choice but to crate the dogs again.  I had noticed Maggie kept going and checking out her old crate so I decided I would leave her in that (besides, her “Maggie-proof” crate was now useless) and crate Tag in the other room with Buddy loose in the living room this time (I didn’t have a crate for him since the girls were in my two original crates and, even if it wasn’t destroyed, he wouldn’t fit in the “Maggie-prrof” crate.)  I was gone maaaybe 45 minutes and when I got back discovered Maggie had managed to rip the metal bars off her crate and twist them into nice, sharp, little metal points.  Ok, so once again, this isn’t going to work.  Great.

Kissing Booth!

Sunday rolls around and, to say the least, I’m feeling a little beside myself.  Throwing a pity party isn’t going to get me anywhere though so I got on the phone with a friend and started trying to devise a new plan.  She really felt like a plastic crate would do the trick.  The rescue had an extra one I could borrow so we went and picked that up, along with Rescue Remedy.  Rescue Remedy is a homeopathic spray that helps to relax you.  I’ve heard people rave about it but never had any need to try it out since my dogs have always been so mellow and unfazed by things.  Obviously that is no longer the case.

Balloon Animals!

Tonight we decided to try out the combination of the new-new crate, Thunder Jacket, and Rescue Remedy.  I put Buddy and Tag up, made a Kong and put Maggie in the new-new crate with all of the above mentioned items.  We again just went to a quick dinner but returned to a house with all of the dogs in their proper place.  I did notice a large about of drool around the front of the crate, and Maggie was panting when we got back, BUT everyone was safe, uninjured, and had wagging tails.  I am concerned about the excessive panting and drooling on Maggie’s part (a sign of stress) but I am praying that if we can stick it out for a few days, Maggie will relax and get comfortable with the new set up.

So. It’s been an interesting, and definitely not relaxing, long weekend.  I do think we are on the road to getting things under control though.  Maggie will be going back to the vet tomorrow because she has developed two masses on her face that I think are puss filled and not draining properly.  I am hoping this will be nothing more dramatic than putting a couple of small drains in and we can go on about our day.  I hope everyone had a better weekend than we did.  The adorable (and amazingly well behaved) German Shepard in the photos is available for adoption so please get in touch with me if he tugged at your heart strings.  And I promise, I will be back to happy posts soon!