Oh my gosh. We are having a time with Bear.

Oh my gosh. We are having a time with Bear.

He's less sedated and has been mostly fine all day, but he is acting straight crazy right now. He is pouncing the floor like how foxes pounce in the snow. He's scratching the carpet trying to dig. He's running up trying to bite us. He's vocalizing. I was finishing peeling the metal sheets for the building and he ran up chomping and has now cut his tongue. His pupils are dilated.

I'm worried about him. He's goofy and wild sometimes, but this is next-level. We gave him one of his sedatives and crated him because I don't want him to hurt himself again - or any of us, either. I know he probably needs to play and burn some energy off, but Cubba is terrified of the fireworks noise that has already begun and isn't up for playing. We tried playing fetch with him, but he gets distracted and pounces the floor/ground.

I noticed him pouncing on the pool cover today. (We stopped him). Of course, it gives when he does that. Does he think the floor and ground should do that, too, now? 

Can dogs hallucinate?

A few possible cactus fruits...

A few possible cactus fruits, the tiniest Euphorbia blooms, and some flowers.

I can't believe that big mound bloomed after Bear uprooted it the other day.

Part of our battle this morning...

Part of our battle this morning to keep him from chewing the chairs. He's less sedated today AND WE CAN TELL. 😂😂😂

Look at how he moves, though. He really does remind me of a human toddler. Or a much younger dog. Especially those facial expressions when his chew "gets away" from him. Like we've done magic or something. 😂

I love this goober. He just went outside, though, so I'm gonna take this opportunity to refill my ice. 😂😂😂

We had our first family swim.

We had our first family swim. Cubba didn't come out because of fireworks, but Bear did. He ran many a happy lap around the pool and eventually came in. He really wanted to be with Kira and Shadow, so a small amount of coaxing from Kira got him onto the splash pad.

He came in and out a few times because he wanted to run some more, but he kept coming to the edges when the kids were near. He would crouch down like he wanted to jump in and he even made some weird squawky noises, but he was scared.

He finally jumped into the deep end at Shaun, who caught him but not before he went face-first (briefly!) into the water. Shaun said he held his breath and he didn't come up waterlogged, so that was good. He did some ineffective kicking while Shaun held him up and guided him back to the steps. He wanted out after that, but he seemed ok.

He walked around the pool after that, seemingly contemplating his life choices. 😂  He still came back to the edge to say hello. Thankfully, we don't think he was traumatized, but it's probably for the best he knows where it's safe and easy to enter the water.

Here he is resting. He wasn't wearing his life jacket in this picture because he was sitting with me drying off and we were about to go inside.

Look at that sand on his little lip. Why is he so damn cute!? 😂😂😂

Look at this MerMan. Safety first! ❤️

Look at this MerMan. Safety first! ❤️

Look at this dog.

Look at this dog. He wasn't tangled or anything. He is laying weird because of who he is as a person. I don't know what else to say. 😂

Knee Update:  They are stable and almost healed. Everything is still where she put it. We can start weaning him off of his sedatives. Over the next month he can slowly return to normal activity. It's not impossible for him to undo the work his surgeon did at this point, but it's not likely.  We need to prevent him from slipping and falling as he returns to his playful self. He now has socks and toe grips, both of which we will be trialing on him this week.

The hip situation hasn't changed much. He has hip dysplasia, but he doesn't seem hindered by it. The surgeon said that unless we want to do a hip replacement on him (which runs about $10,000, has to be done in Colorado, and should be done sooner rather than later) she recommends he start a pain management program for that and arthritis. He is scheduled for next week at his regular vet to get pain management started. He really doesn't seem to be bothered by his hips; if he is, it's far from the extent that his knees were hurting and crippling him.

We also asked her about his ankle going janky (and it happened at the clinic, as well). She said it's not uncommon to have instability after his legs were messed up for so long. She said to keep an eye on it. So far, he seems unbothered when it happens. If it starts happening more frequently or starts causing him issues or pain, it will need to be addressed.

So, that's probably the best news we could have hoped for. Hopefully, the hardest part is behind us.

Bear's "I need an adult." face. 😂

Bear's "I need an adult." face. 😂

His Conversation Lips. 😂

He was in the kitchen barking "to" Shadow. This was his face. He got up and started looking around. I think he heard something that he felt needed attention and was trying to tell Shadow to take care of it.

He's so funny. He doesn't use his voice or his body language like most dogs. Our sweet, special boy. ❤️