Retroactive Guilt

I've had some mighty happy little dogs here lately. They really enjoyed having Mom home more or less continually last week. They enjoyed getting an early morning walk and a late evening walk every day. They enjoyed sprawling on the couch or the bed and taking an odd nap here and there. They enjoyed the fact that with a little rest, Mom was less grumpy and more tolerant of the heathen cats.

Even when I went back to work this week, their good moods continued. A night or two ago when we had settled in bed, Mojo began to dance around the bed, flirting with me and sneaking in for quick, slurpy kisses before dodging away. This evening I caught the two of them having a big play. They took up positions on either side of the wall that separates the living room from the study and ran back and forth, each of them trying to catch the other one off guard so they could sneak up on the other's rear. It was pretty funny to watch them racing up and down the wall and peeking around the corner to see if the other one was there.

It wasn't so long ago, you may recall, that Mojo had a hospital stay that I feel sure was brought on by stress. He was edgy and nervous for weeks before then and to see him happy, playful and relaxed is a great relief to me.

I was reminded of how far he has bounced back when I got an email this week from the place where they boarded twice, a week apart, back in May. The facility takes photos of their little charges during their stay. In the past these photos have shown my babies to be relatively peaceful and calmly co-existing with the other furry guests. This time, however, I could immediately see the telltale signs that said all was not well.

Classic Mojo panic. Curled tongue and wide, glassy eyes.

Again, heavy panting and bright eyes.

Coco only looks like this when she's

upset or really hot.

Coco worries about her little brother.

I haven't decided if he's wary, mad or playing here.
At least his tongue isn't hanging out, so maybe he was having fun.

Is my Mommy in there?

Bless their little hearts. They just don't like being away from their Mom and they aren't that crazy about being around other dogs after their unfortunate incident with the German Shepherd last year. Nothing like a little bit of retroactive guilt as I looked through the online photo album and saw their little unhappy faces.

But one photo made me laugh out loud.

LSW