monday update!

another amazing day of milestones reached. carver wagged to greet me when i arrived home this afternoon, and when I took out his harness he leapt right up, jumping at the front door to go out. carver and i went for a glorious walk on the paths that head towards ward's pond. when carver saw that we were headed that way, he started to run again! we made it across the jamaica way in a fast gallop. carver was very excited to be back on the paths, one of our favorite afternoon walks. it is quiet down there, and woodsy. he drank lots of water on the walk, which i now carry around with me-he gets really thirsty from all the hard running. we ran into a crazy dog hoarder, who had 2 elderly mutts, and it must have been 8 chihuahuas of various ages, all of leash. she had huge sunglasses on (despite the woods being dark and the sky being cloudy) and even bigger black high healed boots (with sweatpants) in the mud! carver wanted to check out the dogs, but she acted like they were vicious (even though they all seemed pretty sweet). we were both disappointed that we could not say hi. all in all, it was a great walk, carver marking like crazy, and learning to kick all the leaves back on 3 legs.

carver had his first acupuncture treatment by a wonderful animal acupuncturist who does home visits. she came in with a tool box full of supplies, and a photocopy of the dogs acupuncture points for me. she let carver sniff everything in her toolbox. the cats were very interested in what she was doing, so much that i had to move them into another room-they would not leave us alone. first she felt his body for heat, for areas that felt a different temperature that the rest of him. she then began to insert the needles-after about the 3rd needle, carver just lay down and went to sleep! it was like he was hypnotized! she placed needles along his spine, and then more around his shoulder and his hind legs, and anywhere she felt stuck energy.she left the needles in for a long while, until he woke up and moved a bit, then she gently removed them. carver really liked her, was very relaxed about the whole thing. and I liked her very much! she is very funny, focused, interesting. she was interested to hear all about carver and really seemed to relate to what he had been through-she was very empathetic. we made another appointment for next monday. after she left, I went to rub carver's head, and he just felt softer than I have felt him in a long time-not his fur, but his energy, he feels so relaxed in a new fresh way, like he is brand new. I feel so happy to have pursued this route of treatment, I think it is going to be very beneficial.

tonight our friend c is coming over with her long haired chihuahua chupie. a fun end to a very cheery day!

details-carv had his pain meds around 10 am-I decided to skip the afternoon meds so i could give him the pm ones early, to get him on a better schedule. he seems comfortable. he had breakfast of 1 can wellness beef w/immune blend & joint heath tabs this morning around 630 am, in the kitchen! snacks this afternoon were 1/2 can wellness venison, a cookie, and his deramaxx, around 4pm. now he is resting comfortably on the couch.