November 7, 2012
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Nails Trimmed
Wore the dog out this morning. Got her nails trimmed.
Had I known it would be that easy…
Annie’s nail (like her obedience training) are a little long and neglected. I really need to get into the habit of taking her in every other week for a while so we can work the quick back. And yes, I am aware that some people trim their own dog’s nails. Not I, not I. I have a groomer for that, Tara who tells me wonderful secrets, like, there are citronella collars for dogs that squirt them with unpleasant smells whenever they bark. This seems infinitely superior to a.) a shock collar, or b.) Cheryl running across the back yard 35 times a day to shout, “NO!” at some vague spot in the lawn where the dog used to be. If we could reduce the barking we could allow the dogs free access to the back yard most of the time which would clear the final obstacle–it appears–to house training.
Enough of the dogs.
We went to Nancy’s check-up yesterday. We now have our very own copy of her hip x-ray. She is still on drugs, but the new drugs are less mind-boggling than the old, and she is working her way steadily back to health. She cannot drive while she’s still on drugs, but she can work, and she is preparing to go to work right now. (Some things remain a little fuzzy for her, but it’s okay. She’ll catch up.)
Recovery Milestone: she came back to the beloved waterbed last night. She can get in and out. Annie was thrilled, and immediately curled up in her place of honor between us. No offense, Cheryl, she nosed me gently, but this is a lot better.
So much for the veering away from dogs.
Tiny little sampling of crow for Cheryl: Lisa gave me a harness for Annie called ‘Easy Walk’ or ‘Easy Walker’. I put it on the dog and she walked out of it and I reported that. So I then met Lisa and Annie at the dog park and she was wearing another harness for Lisa and I immediately noticed how much easier it is to walk with Annie when she’s wearing the harness. So I tracked down the one Lisa gave me, tightened it up…and it’s magic. Now if she gets too excited she flops like an out-of-water fish (apparently the harness trips her) but she’s a smart dog and she figured out what caused that in no time. And this is the kind of dog they hitch to huge trailers loaded with bricks and talk them into pulling the trailers around, so you can imagine what a joy she is to walk beside when she wants to run to the park and you would prefer to hobble along slowly on a bad knee.
Annie is a food-driven dog. She will eat absolutely anything. You can offer a certain kind of dog treat I bought to Riley and he will just close his eyes and turns his head away: Annie eats them by the handful. So last night I was sitting in my recliner, watching election results and eating pop corn and Annie was in my lap–often in my face–demanding her fair share, and Nancy said, “What it is we’re trying to avoid in Annie’s diet?”
I said, “I don’t remember–what?”
She said, “Corn. Do you think there’s any corn in popcorn?”
So–much like cocoa, which can attract the cat from a near-coma–it looks like pop corn goes on the list of things we won’t be eating very much of these days.
And now for our new mantra: Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go…
