This morning when I left them in the bedroom again, like yesterday, I removed all toys (dog and cat toys) so there's nothing they can fight over. And Anastasia's smart enough that she wouldn't sleep in Mercy's bed when I'm not around to protect her, so I'm not worried about the dog bed in the bedroom. When I stayed in the living room for the first five minutes after locking them in the bedroom, Mercy did not whine or pace in front of the hallway door like she used to do. It seems like she has gotten used to staying in the bedroom when I'm not around. I'm going to try to leave Anastasia in the living room again, just in case Mercy has to stay in the room alone without companion animals in her new home.
On Sunday after we came back from visiting Samson, Mercy met the neighbor's Salty, the Golden Retriever (male, not sure if he's neutered, but Dudley growled at him when he met the Golden). Mercy sniffed then barked at Salty, but it sounded more like a play bark, not a warning bark like when she guarded her rawhide.
No accidents this week so far! So maybe it really was the steroid last week that caused her accidents on the carpet.
I really think by having Anastasia in the bedroom with Mercy when I�m at school, it calms Mercy down a little bit. If Anastasia�s in the living room, Mercy would whine for a total of ten seconds in the first ten minutes that I lock her in the bedroom (I don�t make any sound when she whines, because the reason she whines is to try to get attention from me. And if I respond by opening the door or talking to her, then she would definitely do it again, and for a longer period and make a louder whining sound next time. If it gets really bad � which had not happened to Mercy before, at least when I�m not around, but it had happened to Penelope, who had very mild separation anxiety - then I would bang on the door and tell her �No� in a very deep voice, but the voice I use is nothing like what I normally use to talk her, the point is to not make it sound like me. Then if she quiets down for at least five minutes, then I would open the door, kind of reward for being quiet. Then next time I would reward her for being quiet for ten minutes, and so on). But if Anastasia�s in the bedroom with her, then she doesn�t whine at all. Here she is sleeping on the carpet, and being a very good girl, when I came home from school. I also have the fan on because it gets a little warm in the bedroom in the afternoon, and also the radio on to provide some sound. Anastasia is sleeping in the little cat furniture near Mercy�s head.
Just took Mercy to the vet this morning. She got a little skittish once she realized that we were at the vet's. She's now at 53 lbs. The vet said she was very good when he drew her blood; she didn't move at all. But she has tiny veins in her arm, so he had to do it from her jugular vein. The vet found a few microfilariae in her blood. So he's giving her a higher dose of ivermectin this morning, and I'll pick her up this afternoon. He said to check her blood again next week. I was a little concerned that she would freak out at the kennel, but they have enough room this morning, so she stayed at the metal cage in the treatment room, and not at the concrete cages in the back. With all the people walking around, I think she'll be okay. The vet also checked her eye again. He said this time he found no hair rolled into her eye, but there is a tiny bit of hair in the inner corners of both her eyes. Those hairs do not touch the cornea, but only the conjunctiva. As of right now, he still recommends no surgery. But if there is more drainage from the left eye or from both eyes again, then Mercy should see the vet again to see if surgery is needed to freeze or cut the muscle that's doing the contraction. But he thinks she'll be ready to be adopted next weekend. This morning when we were at the waiting room at the vet's, a Corgi barked at Mercy, and Mercy barked back. I stopped by the vet's office around noon to take Mercy out for a short walk. She was whining a little bit when I left. But when I picked her up at 5 PM, the vet said she was very good while she was there, so I guess she didn't whine for a long time. The vet also said that at around noon he was a little concerned because she was breathing really fast, but he thought maybe it was because she was dreaming (so I guess she was asleep when he noticed that, which is a good thing, because I was worried that she would be really anxious at the vet's, so her sleeping is a good thing). The vet said to keep her calm for today and tomorrow, and then Saturday we can start exercising, and slowly increasing the exercise time, then by the time he rechecks her next week, she should be able to exercise normally (running, walking, playing with other dogs).