After a holiday weekend…

Hello! Welcome back! I hope you had a really nice Memorial Day weekend. A three-day weekend always flies by as we try to cram way too much into three days, and this weekend was definitely no different.

Emmett and Lucas attended a cookout on Saturday with a whole pack of dogs: Tank and Buster (my sister’s), Elvis (my aunt’s), and Otto (my mom’s). Otto and Lucas are absolutely the best buds. Lucas, at 81 pounds, dwarfs little 12-pound Otto, but he’s so careful and gentle with him. In fact, Otto always wins when the two of them play tug of war. When the whole group of dogs gets together, Lucas assumes the big brother role, rough-housing with each in turn and breaking up the others if they get too rough. He leads them in a giant game of “chase” around my parents’ backyard, and whenever he pauses to get a sip of water, all the little ones follow suit. But Lucas isn’t as young as any of those pups are, and he spent Sunday recuperating – sprawled across the middle of the living room floor, only stirring to eat or roll over.

Emmett usually spends his time where the people are, going from person to person, allowing each to scratch his ears or rub his belly. He enjoyed the cookout because there were so many people, so much scratching to go around! But then very late Sunday night/Monday morning, Emmett woke me up… I took him outside, and the poor little guy was pretty sick. He still hasn’t fully recovered, and we have him on the rice/boiled chicken diet.

One little trick I discovered this weekend: With an upset stomach, it’s super important to keep your dog hydrated. Emmett hasn’t been drinking any water at all, which worried me. So I froze a tray of ice cubes (one of his favorite snacks), but I upped the ante to ensure he’d eat them. After I put a little bit of water in the trays, I sprinkled Parmesan cheese over top, creating a cheesy ice cube, which he couldn’t resist! I’ve made a couple more trays over the past 24 hours, just to make sure the little guy is getting hydrated.