Trooper update

Trooper had a rough first evening (or maybe it was us who had the rough time) and I'm pretty sure he was depressed for most of the next day. Who wouldn't be? He's missing the one constant in his life and is stuck in an unfamiliar place. But I'm happy to report that he seems to be settling in and more responsive. He was pretty out of it the first couple of days but now he looks for us when he gets inside, has started wagging his tail and is finally eating his food. He seems to prefer to be outside rather than in (it's all that fur, he's probably hot and it's always cooler outside) but he's happy enough to hang out inside with us after the sun goes down.

He's such an easy dog to take care of, not demanding at all, mostly sleeps and never, ever makes a sound. He's big and strong, if he didn't want to move you couldn't make him, but he's so easy going that all you have to do it tug on his collar and he moves wherever you want him to. Everybody seems to focus on the fact that he's blind but his blindness is so not a problem, he's already learned the yard and that he has to step down off the stoop to get out of the house. He can navigate our yard with no problem (and it's not an easy yard to get around in, no grass and lots of statuary and plants,) he has a natural grace so he never knocks anything down.

We got his blood work results today and he has low thyroid, anemia and the beginnings of kidney problems. The last part is scary because that's what happened to Jasper so we know how that goes. We had to give Jasper IV fluid twice a day the last few weeks which didn't end up solving the problem and caused all sorts of new ones. The thought of having to go through that again makes me sick to my stomach. Hopefully Trooper isn't at that point yet, I don't know what the future holds. Hopefully next week it holds a bath, tooth cleaning and a few other procedures at the vet. Well, *I* say hopefully, Trooper might have a different take on that.