settling ...

 back into a routine ...

   Charlie regressed while I was in the hospital since from what I can tell, no one checked on him from late Thursday night to late Saturday afternoon.  (Security cameras didn't record any sounds or movement indicating that anyone had come into the house during that time ~ they did record Charlie howling, however)

  We have had to have discussions about housebreaking issues and getting into the recycling cans, and how dangerous licking the inside of a metal can is.  He has been rather nonchalant about my return from the hospital, probably because he is trying to figure out if he can really trust me again.  I get it.  Breaks my heart, but I get it.

  The only thing I can do at this point is to go back to square one with him and get back into normal routines.  I may also have to prevent him from being able to leave the bedroom at night because that is when he forgets what the house rules are.

 

 While we are chatting about the [amazing Wyze security cams] I have noticed a peculiar thing since turning them on consistently the night I went into the hospital.  The back door/kitchen cam has been consistently picking up what sounds (at least to me) like a single dog bark.  The sound sometimes changes in pitch, and in frequency, from every 10 minutes to every 20 or 30.  It's not a sound that I can hear if I stand by the camera and wait to pinpoint the noise.  It's not my smoke alarm ~ that chirp will drive me bonkers until I change the battery, which I just did last month.

  I don't know how long the noise has been happening, other than the last week since most of the time I delete sound-only recordings (Lucy is so loud at times during the night when she is playing).

  It most often sounds just like my Soul-Dog Trooper, because whenever he wanted to get my attention ~ to go out, or come in, or to play ~ he would give just one single bark.

  Next week will be the 5th (sob!) anniversary of when he went to wait for me at Rainbow Bridge.  While I still haven't discounted the sound to something "of this world" it is extremely comforting for me to feel that he is here.

  Last night the living room cam busted Charlie doing an inappropriate behavior ... and what sounds like three barks ... perhaps busting Charlie as well... but it almost seems like he hears them also.

  You decide.