Koira's been on "vacation" for the past few weeks. My mom lives about an hour away from me, out in the country. For about 3 months when Koira was little, we lived there while I was going to school and looking for a job. And Koira absolutely loves to go visit.

Super happy on the back porch

Koira hides in the car because she is scared of traffic around us. But as soon as we turn onto the highway my mom lives on, Koira will pop up and start to look around eagerly. I'm lucky enough that my mom enjoys Koira and is willing to watch her when I go out of town, or just have Koira go out and enjoy the slow life for a while. This time around, I had a busy couple of weeks planned with a bunch of stuff that Koira either wasn't invited to or simply would not have done well with, because of dog reactivity, anxiety issues, and being a crazy nutjob on the river. Ptera, on the other hand, was able to do these things. So Koira went off on a solo vacation at my mom's house, during which she taught the rooster that he isn't allowed on the porch (my mom taught Koira to chase him off the porch, but not any other time), and that the deer aren't welcome in the garden. And my mom made Koira fat and lazy, since the most she really did was chase the rooster off the porch and the deer out of the yard, with lots of laying on the couch in between.

Ptera came with me to pick up Koira

Unfortunately, Koira has been super itchy since about Friday or Saturday, and I think I just figured out why last night. It looks like Koira has a big swollen bug bite in the armpit of her front leg. There are a bunch of hives near it, which thin out the farther away they get, though she is itchy all over. I'm keeping an eye on it, of course. If it improves, even gradually, we'll just keep up with the benadryl for the itchiness. If it gets worse, or any of the scratching opens up a sore, we'll head off to the vet. It doesn't help that Koira has a grass allergy, so when she is itchy, she goes outside and rubs around on the grass to scratch, and ends up breaking out in hives from the grass as well. Poor itchy girl.

Her serious picture

Overall, I'm just really thankful that I have someone that I trust, who is willing to watch Koira for me, sometimes with little or no notice. And I just love my girls. Koira may not be an easy dog, but I love her all the same.