I think Gus is going to have a good Christmas eve, he had a good day Saturday.

We have some new routines around food.

He is eating his gastroentric soft dog food, and the vet asks that we hold him upright for five to 10 minutes after each meal so his food can move down through the esophagus.

To my surprise, it may be working.

I have been hand feeding most of the food in the form of “meatballs,” his food is offered in small balls so he can digest them. The fun part to this is I am training him to “jump,” which is to stand up on his hind legs and eat the food while in that position.

Again, the idea is for the food to move through the esophagus and not lodge there. Gus, a born circus dog, loves to walk that way, just as he loves to ride on a donkey.

This is new for me, and also for Maria, but Gus likes being held by her after dinner while she rubs his belly. Not bad. He had a good day Friday, and Saturday was almost as good. He has been diagnosed with Megaesophagus, as many of you know, and has been regurgitating most, if not all of his food during the week.

I was shocked by the diagnosis, but I admit I am enjoying trying to figure out how to deal with it, at least up to a point.

We are working hard and struggling a bit to get a grip on it, but we are off to a good start. Gus had one spit-up today, early in the day – regurgitation is an awful word, I think – and none on Friday. That’s about a 500 per cent reduction over the rest of the week.

We give him antacid medicine 30 minutes before a meal, and raised his bowl a foot off of the floor so he eats the food with his head up, not down. I shape the dog food by hand into small balls which I drop into his mouth one at a time, and then put a small amount down in the bowl.

We meet with the vet when her practice re-opens during the week for a progress report.

I am very glad we got into see Dr. Fariello before the Christmas break, it would have been a nightmare to deal with  all of this all weekend, we had no idea what was happening, and I am not a fan of most emergency veterinary clinics.

I want him to be seen by a vet who knows him.

Everything else is working fine today, his bodily functions, energy, playfulness. Other than the food issues, he does not seem like a sick dog.

Gus was a handful even when tossing up his food and going hungry, and he is a handful when he isn’t.

So heading into Christmas eve, Maria and I are both optimistic. I see some light here.

If we can keep this going, get into a rhythm, and the condition doesn’t worsen,  this reality is both effective and quite manageable. I’d be happy with it.

Today and yesterday, it was under control, that’s the place I want to get to. I don’t mind that he has a chronic condition, I just want to know we handle it in a rational way that works for  him and for us. I don’t want our lives to be seriously disrupted, I don’t want him to suffer.

If the condition doesn’t get worse (it might), we can deal with it.