The ear treatments have worked.  The infection is gone, and believe it or not, I can hear just fine now.  No one was very hopeful when I started my medication that my hearing would return.  But we are all glad that it did.  When someone comes home, I can hear the door open when I'm on the other side of the house.  The world is much more interesting with sounds.  I look for crows when I hear them, and I know when a squirrel is hopping through the leaves.

I've had medicine put in my ears for five days now.  That means that I have nine more days to go.  I look bad because my head is greasy.  I smell bad, too.  I don't think that my hearing is getting better.  At least I get treats when it's medicine time.

Yikes, today was pretty rough.  My ears were really clogged up and the Vet worked hard to dig out the junk in my ears.  The LADY said if I had been a boy, she would have named me Tater.  She said you could have grown 'taters from all of the dirt the pulled out of my ears.  Maybe I'll be able to hear better when my ear infection gets better.  But maybe not.  I've been learning to listen to hand signs at home.  I've learned the sign for sit, lets-go-out and for lay down.  We even have a sign for good girl and there's one for my name, too.  The sign for my name is the same as the surfer sign for "hang loose", only you do it upside down, so dogs can see it .  Not being able to hear can make being alone feel extra lonely sometimes.  But don't worry about me, though.  There are worse things than not being able to hear.  I can still use my four paws.  I can smell a treat from ten feet away.  I can see like a hawk so if my hearing never comes back, I'll still be o.k. 






 

I'm starting to get the hang of things here at my new house.  The food is good, but they don't give me much.  At my old place, before I went to the shelter, I would get lots and lots of treats.  But those days are longggg gone.  I'm learning that I shouldn't be underfoot in the kitchen.  I'm also learning that I have to stay in a crate at night.  I don't like this ONE BIT.  I don't know why we can't be together all of the time.   

SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE LADY:  Maggie is not reacting to sounds.  We are going to the Vet today to see what is going on with her hearing.  At home, we are trying to teach her that it's o.k. to be away from us sometimes.  We also want her to know that when we do go away, we will always come back for her.  She doesn't believe this yet, but I hope she will learn to relax when we are away from the house or are sleeping in separate rooms.  I'm trying not to cuddle her too much.  I read that cuddling all the time can make little dogs anxious when it's time to spend some time apart.  This is hard since she is incredibly cute.