Free at last, free at last

After two and a half long weeks-- The Little Patient finally got her collar off and got her first taste of freedom. She finished her antibiotics today; she had staples in her stomach for over two weeks that were removed yesterday. I left her collar on one more day to keep her from licking/biting where the staples had just come out.

Today, it was time to let The Little Patient have her freedom back. We went down to their favorite store, Dog Bone Alley in downtown Alameda, for the grand defrocking. Ever-cheerful Dog Bone employee Julie was there to witness the grand moment, while my pal Joyce did camera duty.

Last picture before it came off... not sure why this is uploading sideways, sorry!




Finally the collar comes off.







Dot was a little confused... she'd gotten so used to it. So for a few moments, she just sat there kind of bewildered. As can clearly be seen in this picture:




Then she realized that she was done with it. Even though she was over it quite some time ago.
























It's nice to see her return to her old licky ways... a few weeks ago when she had her brush with death, she didn't want to lick anybody or anything, which was very much unlike her.

It was only a matter of seconds before she decided to celebrate with a snack...




...and then a hearty full-body shake and a first big stretch outside.




























Here she is, not exactly sure what to do next.














































...and then here's one of Speck, just so he won't feel left out.