Monkey--which is what I'm going to call her here no matter what she is named--finally arrived, almost two weeks past the due date. While she and Scarf and Drums remain in hospital, RDC and I get to host Mia. Despite being a year older and half St. Bernard to boot, Mia is spryer than full-Lab Morgan. Poor girl, she has been away from home since labor began, not because of doggy germs but because she and Scarf are so devoted to each other that her not understanding why her mama was in pain and consequent agitation caused Scarf further pain.
I don't know whether it will be better to walk her past her house, to let her know that she's near it and let her sniff it or if that will upset her.
Before we dognapped her, Mia spent the day in the yard of a neighbor who doesn't care for dogs in his house. I guess we were the first to act upon his message--please take her home with you--because when RDC went over in the late afternoon to see if she was still available, she was. Conveniently, Drums had just darted home to shower and change. So we have her food and leash, and during dinner someone came by with her bed, and right now she and I are in the living room reading and snoozing.
During dinner and also now, but now sadly muted by the dishwasher, Mia has been snoring. One of my private theories is that I began to sleep with men only because, away from home and at college, their snores were my only substitute (I suppose I should be grateful that my roomie wasn't a snorer). I have considered getting a white-noise generator for waves, crickets, and rain; I wonder if any is available with dog snores and sighs.
Oh, and while RDC was cooking dinner Mia lay in the doorway between dining room and kitchen, on the cold mean hardwood floor. Eventually she rose creakily and hoisted herself onto the one rug in the kitchen--which is exactly in front of the sink. When I patted the corner of the dining room rug she came immediately, and she was only a couple of feet further back than her position in the doorway. But I like that she wants to be just as much underfoot as she can be.
She might not smell as rank in body as Morgan, but she has worse breath, and if she's not as rank she's still a dog and therefore no flower. Objectively, cockatiel dander smells good, while dog does not; but if Dog is an acquired preference, I've certainly acquired it.