Playdates, Vet Visits & Other Fun

This morning Secret went to the vet for her annual wellness visit. She wasn't due for any shots -- Well, except for Bordatella, which I took care of last night...............

Side track -- Have you ever tried to give an intranasal vaccination by yourself? Maybe that's not the right question. I mean, I've given one to dogs at the shelter on my own numerous times if the dog acted like it wouldn't present a problem. This is Secret. This is MY dog. I figured I should be able to handle giving her an intranasal vaccination on my own. Right?? Yeah.... That was fun. I even prepped her by showing her the empty syringe and giving her treats. She even made faces at the empty syringe! Oh yay. I chased her around the house with the vaccination a few times. In the end, I think I might have successfully gotten 1/4 of it up her nose. My vet made me feel better by saying that's all they really need to be protected. That's what I get for trying to save money. I can get a bordatella vaccination through the shelter for $2 vs. at least $15 or so from my vet. Now I know it's probably worth it to have the vet do the injectable vaccination!

So anyhow, annual wellness visit.... Joe went with us to get his staples removed from his dew claw surgery. He did remarkably well until just the last few staples (and there were a million, so that's saying a lot). Joe decided he didn't want to be restrained any longer and pitched a bit of a screaming fit, but then he relaxed and let us finish the job.

Secret was a good girl at the clinic. I think Secret wants a kitty, though. There was an orange kitty roaming about the office when we first came through the door and Secret did her usual whine & wiggle when she saw him. Then Olivia, the black & white kitty who is decidedly NOT afraid of dogs, was at the desk when we checked out and Secret was just beside herself trying to get Olivia to come over to play. She has never shown so much interest in cats before! Joe seemed more or less oblivious to them.

I asked to hold Secret for her heartworm blood draw. I hate that it is standard practice to take animals to the back for a draw. For a dog like Secret, that makes it all the more traumatizing. Thankfully my vet is cool about letting me help, so we did the blood draw in the room with me holding Secret. She was very good, especially considering we had to switch legs when Becky couldn't stick the vein in the left leg (having Joe jumping around on her more than likely wasn't helping). She got it right away on the right leg, though, so I don't think the experience was overly upsetting for Secret. She let Becky check her all over without me holding onto her, so that was actually a big step for Secret.

Everything checked out fine, so it looks like we are good until March now when I see that Secret is due for Lepto & Lyme boosters. After discussing Secret's chiropractic issues with Dr. Randy, he thinks we should spend more time doing core work (such as with the theraball) to see if that helps. I told him that's pretty standard for our winter routine, so I guess we'll see if it makes a difference. She had a hot spot in her lower back that he noted -- No surprise, they tend to turn up about two weeks after each adjustment. Randy would prefer not to see such issues in a dog Secret's age, but it's mostly because of her wonky build and there's not much we can do about it -- Other than core work, I guess!

I believe I posted last week that it sounded like Rascal was going to come over for a play date. He & Bethany did, indeed, swing by for about an hour on Friday and the above photo is what I got to enjoy after they left. :o)

We haven't really gotten to train or play with Rascal much this past year and as a result I think he was a little more withdrawn than usual. Bethany has had some medical issues lately and I think Rascal has spent a lot of time with his therapy dog hat on, and as a result he wasn't so much into playing at first. He did get better and they had some good chase sessions going (with Kaiser in the house, of course), but then Joe started to get really full of himself and this turned Rascal off again.

I got to see a whole new side of Joe, though. He was pushy, pushy, pushy! When Rascal needed a break and Joe wanted him to run some more, Joe started to bite Rascal in the butt! Apparently Rascal's "go button" was broken because it didn't work, so then Joe tried to butter him up with kisses on the nose. When that didn't work, either, Joe decided his best option was to hump Rascal!?! He had never, ever shown any inclination to try that with any dog prior to that occasion! It totally took me by surprise.

We had Lexie at the house yesterday while my parents were at the football game. I was at the shelter all day and we only had about an hour of playtime before my parents came to pick Lexie up, but Joe was humping on her, too! That situation makes a little more sense considering we now know that Lexie is in season. I'm not cool with humping behaviors no matter the reason, though, so I made sure to not let it go on when I noticed it.

Look who figured out how to get up on the bed all by himself now? Joe is still sleeping in a crate at night, but I don't care if he goes up on the bed while I'm getting ready in the morning and whatnot. He takes full advantage of it and thinks the bed is pretty awesome. He has made himself right at home, that's for sure.

Joe did well with my weekend work schedule. He seems to think that Kongs are the greatest thing ever as evidenced by how he stock piled them in his crate each evening. Being stuck in a crate all day must not bother him, either, since he still goes barreling in there on his own at meal time. And it sounds like he was a good boy and did his business outside for everyone that came to let the dogs out both days this weekend, so good boy, Joe!

I got good news from the shelter this weekend (back pay, yay!) so it looks like we are going to head up to Minneapolis for a NADAC trial on the 31st. Luke needs one more Q in Chances for his NATCH 3, which would be his fourth Champion title of the year (two NATCH, two V-NATCH). Greed is winning out and I want that title! In addition, we don't have another trial in La Crosse until the end of January and that's just a super long time to wait. Secret has trialed at Soccer Blast one other time (in July) and I think it's good for her to get out and about to more places than just La Crosse. We probably won't run too many classes, but we'll hit up Chances & Jumpers for sure. Maybe we'll enter Touch-n-Go to try to get closer to completing her Elite Versatility Award as well.

Oh! And Joe has an approved adopter who lives in that area who is going to come meet him at the trial and see how he does with her other dog. Fingers crossed that everything goes well. This would be the difficult part of fostering. Obviously the goal is to find Joe an awesome forever home, but I will still be sad to see him leave so soon. He's been so much fun to have around.

Speaking of fun -- Tonight we are having a family get-together (ie: early Christmas) because my aunt from out of town is visiting. The perk of having these events at my parent's house is that I can schlep dogs along. Joe is coming for sure for some valuable socialization time and I think I'll bring Secret with him. I feel bad for leaving Luke out.... But I don't know that we want to deal with five dogs at a family dinner (because if Luke comes, so does Kaiser, and my parents have Lexie). Maybe Luke can go for Christmas and I'll leave everyone else at home. :o)