Yesterday gave us one of our many vet visits. My hands were full holding Rufus and giving him treats to keep him distracted. The vet is a terrifying place for him so of course, lots of barking was involved. Part of me didn’t even want to go because he is such a handful at the vet, but that’s not feasible or reasonable, of course.
Thinking that a good dog is a tired dog, I decided a tired dog at the vet would be a compliant dog. So I got out the flirt pole about half an hour before we left, and we played with it for maybe fifteen to twenty minutes. At the end of the giant cat-toy game, he was panting and lying down. So much chasing and jumping can tucker out even a young dog pretty quickly.
I thought we were good to go. He lay down in the back seat during the entire ride there, but once in the exam room he decided it was all too much and barked his head off. I thought this might test the new vet tech but fortunately he was very cool and even liked Rufus a lot. I need to remember that these people are all professionals and can have seen it all. Dogs like Rufus are probably a dime a dozen.
The Doodle-bug needed three shots and a hands-on examination, so we put the soft muzzle on him. He wasn’t a fan but it did change the energy in the room. Then they tried taking him into another examination room thinking if I weren’t there, then he might drop the protective instinct. He wasn’t having that at all. He jumped and refused to go into the back. Poor guy. He was terrified. We all stayed in the first room.
The awesome vet & tech gave him a doggy version of cheese-whiz, spread out on a tongue depressor. He loved that stuff and as long as a tech gave him that and I petted him, Dr. Reiter could give him a thorough enough examination. He balked at having his ears checked but we were pretty happy overall.
He’d weighed in at 71.5 pounds. He’s been holding steady at this for a few months and Dr. Reiter said he’s a great weight. I mentioned that he still eats four cups a day, and that surprised her. I’ve been waiting for him to start getting pudgy, but since his weight hasn’t increased at all, I’m going to keep doing this for a few more months. He burns through calories. This morning we have already played fetch both indoors (during yoga) and outside, and then he still got the zoomies.
So I have a healthy dog who is more than happy at home. We just need to keep the fear response at bay. I’ve ordered some of the cheese-whiz, and while I realize it is not human grade, it’s going to be very tempting not to eat it. Yes, I can admit that.
The Rufus Files 