...in an e-collar. Poor Belle.
But at least she's home safe and sound and spayed. At first, neither the surgery nor the e-collar slowed her down. She rocketed down the stairs (as fast as you can rocket on a leash) and when I let Max in to see her, she kissed him and jumped on him and tried to play with him - me pulling on the leash the whole time - until he growled because the e-collar kept jabbing him in the face. He eagerly slipped back outside to the doghouse.
I sat with Belle for an hour or so on the cold floor of the laundry room, petting and soothing her. She had tried to run back up the stairs already and I couldn't afford to let her re-injure herself, but I hated to leave her all alone in the laundry room.
Finally, I devised a stair-guard, some old theater seats pushed up against the bottom stair, so we could be released from our prison into the television room. A couch for me and a rug for her... much more comfy than that concrete floor!
Once the television came on, she stretched out and went to sleep... resignation and acceptance...
For now, anyway. Who knows what the morning will bring... thank goodness Daniel came home to help babysit this weekend!