I took the dog in to be spayed last Friday.  It turned out that during her time as a stray she’d gotten pregnant somewhere along the way.  The vet also found she had a nasty ear infection.  Even so, she did well and they let me bring her back home on Saturday morning.  The only problem is that she has to be restricted from too much activity or from jumping for 10 days.  Of course this has been a bit of a struggle, given that she likes to sleep on the bed.  For now I’ve closed off the bedrooms and put stuff on the couch and the chair to keep her off.  At night I put her in a crate in the bedroom.  She initially resists, but then she goes to sleep until morning.

The main issue she has is when I have to clean out her ears.  The vet gave me a solution that I have to put in both ears and then clean the excess out.  She hates the liquid, but seems to like having her ears rubbed and cleaned with a tissue. 

But I think I may have made a long-term mistake and created a monster.  The vet gave me pain pills to give to the dog for the first three days.  To get her to take it I put it in some Mighty Dog canned food.  Unfortunately, she is now shunning the dry food.  I sense a nasty withdrawal in her future.  Provided I can resist the sad, pathetic looks.  That dog is a master of manipulation.