Willow in a kerchief

This is Willow, after her first day in the house with Bernie while I was at work. She isn't wearing the festive bandana for fashion - she's wearing it because she apparently growled and snapped at Bernie one too many times, he retaliated, and she came out of it with a tear in the tip of her right ear. The bandana (and the one under it that isn't visible) is now acting as bandage that will hopefully both absorb any blood that is still leaking out and stop her from shaking her ear and making it start to bleed again. So an injured Willow is what I found when I came home from work - that and a pile of poop on my upstairs hallway floor. So, yeah, the decision I made this morning to let Bernie stay in the main part of the house with Willow instead of putting him in the mudroom, like I did the last two days, was not a good decision at all.

I am absolutely sure that Willow instigated this - she has been very grumbly and snappy since he came to live with me on Friday - but somehow that knowledge doesn't help at all. I am so mad at Bernie right now. I will forgive him, but not tonight. And he will NOT be out in the main house with Willow when I'm not here anymore. But as much as I'm mad at him, I'm even more mad at myself. Not for bringing him into the house, because he really is a very sweet dog who had never lost his patience with Willow before today (and believe me, he had plenty of cause). I'm mad at myself because I saw Willow being nicer with him last night and this morning, and I thought that meant that they were starting to be friends, and that the two of them were going to be like my old dogs, Bo and Bailey, were with each other. But of course, it's far too early in their relationship, and the trust was an error in judgment that cost Willow a wounded ear. And I'm hating myself for that just a little bit.

And I'm giving myself a headache, and my night has been very stressful and chaotic (do you have any idea how much a dog's torn ear can bleed? Because apparently the answer to that is a fucking lot more than you would ever guess, and just when you think you've gotten it to stop, they'll shake their head and it will start bleeding all over again - hence the improvised bandana bandage), and I have a test in my accounting class tomorrow, and I have to get up at 6:00 to take Bernie to the vet to have his elbow x-rayed and his infected neutering incision taken care of, and all I want to do is climb under the covers of my bed and stay there until at least Saturday morning.