More about Gozer

Our sweet little Gozer girl is definitely more comfortable in our house. She's started to play in the backyard- and she's definitely trying to communicate things to us.

Over the last few weeks she's spent a lot of time looking out the patio doors. Now she actually wants to go into the backyard to play and she's been spending some time there on her own (under our supervision). She loves to chase the birds out of the trees and then run circles around the lawn. When she's allowed to go up to the garden patch, she especially loves to go and sniff at the dead cabbage plants. One time I thought she was going to roll around in one of them! Last night when I took her out for her pre-bedtime pee she waded her way through four inches of snow (sans booties) to pee right in front of the gate. All the dogs now know that the backyard belongs to her.
She's also been telling us, in her own subtle way, that she doesn't like her booties. Over the last few days she'd been walking backwards after her booties were put on her feet but of course we kept putting them on her. This evening as soon as I tried to put one bootie on, she laid down and went limp. Do you know how difficult it is to put a sock-style booties on a completely limp foot? I got them on but one came off during the walk.

We clearly aren't getting the message from her that she doesn't like the booties, so I wonder what Gozer will do to communicate this message? I know that the booties hurt her dew claws - and it doesn't help that her claws need trimming - but when there's four inches of uncleared snow out there she has to wear them. She is getting her claws trimmed, along with some of her fur, at her first grooming appointment on Wednesday so hopefully the booties will be more comfortable after that.

I'm still on the lookout for other booties for her that are easier to put on and that don't hurt her dew claws. There are some available on the interwebs but I want to check out a couple of stores in town here before I order something. I'd rather see them in-person so that I can examine them to see how they look and feel and to check their construction. Dog booties are expensive and I don't want to spend a lot more money on booties that don't work or are uncomfortable on her feet.