Mutton chops: my dog has them.

The dog got a haircut last week. When Shane took her in he told the groomers to "keep the mutton chops" and they did.

She looks utterly ridiculous (the picture doesn't quite do it justice because her ears get in the way), and has earned the nickname of "bearded lady". I keep telling Shane he's cruel for having taken away her superpower: sad eyes. Usually she has the ability to make us feel guilty for just about anything. The eyes say, "Why are you leaving me? I don't like being abandoned...." Or sometimes, "Why are you not giving me those meats? I like meats. I would gladly take them off your hands for you...." Now she just looks silly, and the power of her sad eyes is gone.
I can't even feel that sorry for her when she shivers. Which she's been doing a lot of. I wrap her in blankets as often as possible to help keep her warm but if I then leave the room she tends to jump up and follow me. At least she's been warm at night, snuggling down under the covers with us...between us.
So if your dog, too, is having a hard time adjusting to a new haircut, or any new circumstances, I have a few simple steps you can take to help them feel better.

1.When looking through the freezer for dinner options, unearth an unidentifiable and badly freezer burned steak or chop of some kind. (Seriously, we couldn't tell what it was.) Set it out to thaw.
2.Finally decide that the salmon filet which keeps throwing itself out of the freezer at your feet was meant to be dinner. Set it out to thaw as well.
3. Bake both (in separate dishes, of course) and give the dog a mix of salmon and steak for dinner.
4.Before she's done eating those, make a whole chicken for dinner, reserving the giblets for dog meat. Cook them up and serve them with the leftover salmon and steak as dinner.

This is how to win your dog's undying loyalty. (As if you didn't have it already!) It's amazing how much having a dog around helps to prevent waste in our household, though. Leftovers gone bad? As long as they don't have things in them that are bad for dogs (like onions, grapes, and chocolate) they can be fed to the dog. Any freezer-burned meat we find gets cooked up for the dog. Heck, even moldy bread could be given to her. (I put it in the compost instead, just to be on the safe side.) She's our little waste disposal unit. :)
Speaking of whole chickens, though, (it's a terrible segue, I know) that's what we're having for dinner tonight. J&L&Baby will be over so it'll be a great mid-week meal with friends. I just wish I'd remembered to set up the CrockPot last night the way I intended to. This morning I opened the fridge to get out my breakfast and thought, "Oh, crap." As if it wasn't bad enough to have to set it all up, the crock was still dirty from our roast the other day so I had to clean it out, too. Then simultaneously make and eat breakfast, make lunch, make dinner, feed the pets, let the dog out/in. I can't believe I made it to work on time.

P.S. I've discovered that the best topping for those zucchini pancakes I love so much isn't maple syrup (although that's still great). What I like even better is cheaper, can be sourced more locally for most people, and way more nutritious: applesauce. Yum!