Red pawprints, tears and a broken door

We got home one night after having been away for about 8 hours to find wide blood stains on the inside of the kitchen door glass, where we had left poochie, as usual. We panicked and quickly opened the door to find lots of red pawprints covering the floor.

Don't worry, this scary story has a happy ending. This photo was taken today.

But let me tell you how this all began...

A couple of days ago, poochie was left alone in the kitchen, like we have done for about a year now.

That was the room we could close properly and also without things she could distroy very handy. Since we both work, she has to be alone several hours a day. So far, no incidents, beyond making confetti out of plastic bags...

That evening though, she must have had an indigestion or something else upsetting her, that she scratched at the door until she opened it. We found her sitting happily in the living room. She had scratched a bit of the paint off the door, but nothing that couldn't have been repainted.

The second day, she must have become a bit bold, since we found more scratches in the wood and the door open again.

We thought we should try to keep her from opening the door. If we bolted it with a chair, she wouldn't be able to open it and should get discouraged after a few attempts. Unfortunately, that is not what happened.

She probably really needed to go outside, although I take her for walks right before leaving her alone, because she scratched and scratched until she reached the glass edge in the door and hurt her paw.

When we got home that night, a very meek poochie greeted us from the kitchen, with a bloody paw and muzzle from trying to lick the paw. We all had a group hug on the hallway floor and I inspected the paw closely.

I must say we were lucky.

Poochie only had two split nails, to the quick (hence the blood), but otherwise she was fine. Phew!

I took her for a walk, we got back in, she had some water and I washed her paws and disinfected the nails with some camomile tea.

I'm glad to say she is back to her old happy self now and we will not be closing the kitchen door anymore.

Happy belated holidays!

We want to wish you a happy belated new year and a lot of accomplishments!

We have been busy these past few days, coming to visit with my mother-in-law (wow, such a long name) and our godparents at the mountains. We were lucky to have had some snow for Christmas and it's still snowing now. Aschiuta couldn't be happier.

We got here by train, of course, with a doggie ticket for pooch and regular priced ones for us. It was nice and spacey for once and we had time to take some interesting photos.

"Woohoo, first class! I'm taking the window seat and the aisle seat!"

Poochie already bored on the train and lying down on the floor.

Christmas was fun, we shared some champagne (yes, from Champagne in France) with the family and stuffed ourselves with traditional dishes. Of course Aschiuta had her share, as always.

I had to go back and forth for the New Year week, since I was working every day. I left on the 31st in the evening to join everyone at the mountains, then went back home the next day. I have to say, work was tedious, but luckily, I have another week off and so I'm back here with everyone for some more relaxation.

Poochie has been quite nice, without making a lot of confetti, but she did swallow some pieces of gum. Good thing she got rid of it.

She has been extremely excited about being here and for the snow as well. When we go out with her, she sometimes makes very quick dashes from one side of the other, as far as the leash allows her. All I can do is hold on for dear life, there's no way I could possibly match her speed. She even broke her extensible leash doing this and my husband had to go buy another one. It seems better quality, but too bad it's not red, as that is poochie's wardrobe colour.

Aschiuta taking a break from running.

And speaking of wardrobe, I made some adjustments to her winter coat. I replaced the leg elastic, so it wouldn't wobble left and right on her back and added a little embellishment, made by me. I think it looks fetching on her, don't you?

A much better fit and a snowflake. See my other needle works here, if interested.