White Dog and I talked while the rest of the White Dog Army went on hiking practice with Steve. She has just started her homeopathic medication and Dr. Julia wants to go a couple of weeks to see if it will help alleviate the pain of what she believes is either a pinched nerve or inflamed nerve sheath or spinal neuralgia. At that point we will Xray again and make an assessment. Meantime, WD has times where she feels fine and others when she refuses too much activity. I try to remain positive and not let my fluffy white daemon know just how worried I am.
We spoke, as the others walked in the bright clear morning, of how well the Army seems to be coming together...despite the curve of Puff's heat...and it is becoming more obvious as she eases out of the cycle. Yesterday, YoYoMa was leashed to my side as I worked in the office at my computer. He crawled into Puff's empty crate and went to sleep. A short while later, SAWD timidly joined us. She watched her brother snoozing in her crate; I could see her thinking through the options. Finally she crept in next to him and stretched out at his side. There was no scandalous intent...and in two minutes she slumbered at his side and the two remained that way for over an hour. It was heartwarming and touching and innocent.
White Dog hasn't quite decided if she likes the new trend but now four of the five WDA members sleep in our room. Of course, only White Dog sleeps on the bed, but Puff is still being crated (5 more days of her heat) with us so we can hear her needs, Nuka now sleeps against my side of the bed, and YAWD takes the position between Sawd's crate and the dog door. Quinn still prefers the space that has been his forever in the office down the hall.
Finally, I put my arms around my little queen, the leader of this pack, and told her that she, too, was starting to show solidarity with her brothers and sisters. I complimented an incident from breakfast where she took charge of her Army and kept fairness and order. AWD has been a bit off her eating the past few days. Steve was sitting with her and her bowl on the floor and hand feeding her. She had just begun to tentatively eat on her own when Puff came charging over (her own breakfast chowed down) and tried to push poor Nuka out of the way. Steve grabbed SAWD and held her while AWD nervously continued to eat. Puff had a temper tantrum of food aggressiveness and began growling to demand the food. White Dog came out from behind her napping chair and sat in front of Puff. WD looked the littlest one in the eye and gave a gentle but firm deep throated threat. White Dog then turned to Nuka and watched until breakfast was finished. Without another word or action, White Dog returned to her nap.
As the group returned to the van and Pumpkin's door slid open, she and I agreed that we still had a LONG road to travel before everyone is totally settled and at ease but we are making progress. With her brightest smile White Dog then turned to the rest and said, "Cheese danish and iced tea sound ok today, mi familia?"