Stella Must Be Feeling Better This Morning

Her morning walk today proved she must be feeling better. She runs away deep in "the no-fly" zone!

If you look at this next picture you would think she feels terrible. The camera caught her at a bad time and I debated whether to post it or not. She woke up at 6:45am to go outside with her tail wagging as she trotted toward the door. A fast trot around the corner of the house and into the field. I stepped back inside after letting the other two hounds out to serve their breakfast kibble.

This picture was taken during our 2nd trip outside, which happens right after their breakfast while my coffee is brewing.

She then came back inside and slept up until the time Sadie decided it was time for the morning walk. I figured we would be taking it slow today based on yesterday afternoon's walk. She already looked better this morning but was totally out of it Saturday for most of the day ... due to my mistake.

I haven't in the past for many years, had my hounds get rabies shots. I made that mistake for some reason on Friday's vet visit but after the way her side effects were yesterday I will not giving her any more shots, nor Sadie and Heidi.

That is why this morning I could tell she was feeling much better so soon after waking up. Compared to yesterday she looked and acted so much different. Her tail was high and wagging as she trotted to the door. She howled loud when she came back inside knowing it was time for breakfast.

While Stella stood and posed for that terrible picture, Sadie was out in the field searching for the latest scents. We finally headed out a few minutes before 9am for the first walk of the day in 48° weather.

Stella was cruising at a speed a little faster than I had anticipated and I think it was a good sign seeing her tail held a little higher than she has recently. She was a lot more curious about what she smelled and a few times caught up with Sadie ... so things were looking much better for her today compared to yesterday's afternoon walk without the camera.

All the way up to the last turn toward home I suspected nothing out of the ordinary taking place. Sadie was pretty relaxed in her walk today and I saw no signs of deer on the horizon. Little did I know what would take place in the next 10 minutes.

This is just a little past the last turn, toward the back of the field, not 10' away. I decided I'd let the hounds do what they do as I continued to walk home.

It wasn't until Sadie ran up next to me, acting a little upset. I'd seen that look many times over the last 8 years and 8 months that I have had her. As I turn to check on Stella I can see what Sadie is upset about ... Stella has not moved from the spot that Sadie found. When I looked before making the turn home, I saw nothing but bare ground where the grass had been mashed down and moved by Sadie's nose to get a better look.

One thing to keep in mind when you are looking at this pictures, I am really far away. I am shooting them with a 200mm zoom and still not even getting close to her. Yet, I could tell that she raised her head to look for us to see or smell where we were.

It wasn't five seconds after I snapped the shutter, that she turns and starts walking to the left, along the edge of the field into the "no-fly zone". You can barely see her in the center of the picture as she walks with her head down. I can tell she is in a slow trot ... she is going places !!

I immediately turned off the camera, slide the lens back into it's normal position and took off running up the path. She had a real good lead on me and I knew by the time I got to that tower she could be either in the woods or sprinting after a scent in the cornfield just behind those bushes.

Sadie realized what was going on and sprinted past me like I was standing still while my run turned into a jog up the path. At this point I thought Sadie had found Stella and she would be in view.

When she took off running I thought she had found her and was running toward Stella ... I was wrong.

By the time I got just past the tower, Stella was nowhere in view. By the way Sadie was acting I thought Stella had turned right into the cornfield. I stepped a few steps over the tall grass into that corn field looking every direction, calling Stella's name and did not see Stella anywhere in the cornfield.

Just about time that Sadie and I started heading straight ahead to the right of those trees, calling Stella's name, I make one more search along the tree line ... there she was, staring back at us and sitting as quietly as possible. It was almost like she was trying to hide from Sadie and I, as we were walking north instead of west toward her.

She finally came when I called her.

As she pushed her nose up nudging my hand to let me know she was okay, we made our slow walk back to the path. You can tell by the yellow field in the distance just how much of an incline there is on the north half of the field when it looks pretty flat as you walk on the other side.

So her excitement was over for at least this morning. By the time I downloaded and looked at the 45 pictures I took during the walk, Stella was sleeping right up next to my desk chair while Sadie slept guarding her water bowl.

I thought I'd include a couple of pictures from yesterday. This is Heidi's normal routine after she comes back inside after her lunch. She sprints from the door to the other end of the house in the living room, nose diving into the carpet, scratching each side of her face while growling to herself ... or most likely wiping her mouth clean.

I can only hope that Stella regains her weight as well as Heidi has. I am taking Heidi in on Monday to get on the vet's scales for an official weigh session. I have a feeling she will be back close to 45 pounds.

As I sat playing some Mahjong on my laptop at the kitchen table early yesterday evening, it looked like the field was turning more yellow before my eyes. I was too lazy to go outside at that time, so I took the picture through the window.

If you look close in the dirt, you can see the recently planted crop is staring to grow.

With the temps climbing to over 70° today, we will be taking another walk and multiple other trips outside. The 6' standard leash will NOT be taken but a closer eye on Stella will be. I am off to read more about dog food protein, how much is needed, how much is too much and hopefully find out why a hound stops processing it.

It's a beautiful Sunday here in 'the tropics' of southern Indiana.