:: On Paws ::
Little puppy, big city

Puppy is much better.

She is getting bigger. Friends who haven’t seen her for a short while (a week or two) remark on her progress.

We’ve opened up the living room & office to her, and now she’s able to rest quietly or play in the same room as we are. She loves to look out the window at the cars shushing by …

She lets us know when she needs to go outside. This past weekend, we brought her over to 2 different friend’s homes (Jeanine’s and Swiss’s) and experienced no accidents. She is definitely developing better bladder control.

She was once again, the star of puppy kindergarten, where Mike used her as a “demo dog” for learning the hand-signal commands, “sit,” “down,” and “stand.”

Last night on her own accord, she dragged her bed over to where we were having dinner by the couch and coffee table and plopped down to continue her nap. Cuteness!

Schedule:

Friday, 8/11, 9am: last DHLPP booster shot, Nemex wormer tablets for the next 2 weeks.

Friday, 8/11, 5pm: drop off at puppy-boarding at Tail-Wagging. Frolicks with other puppies long into the night and early in the morning. Lori reports that she barely got any sleep and shot out of her crate to play in the morning.

Saturday, 8/12, 10am: Mom picks up from Tail-Wagging

Saturday, 8/12, 12:30pm-4:00pm: Swiss’s birthday at Baker Beach. More frolicking with Shasta, a 3-month old Great Pyrenes puppy. Running on the beach with pappa and mommy who are trying not to pay too much mind to the various naked, fat, tan men milling about the end of the beach.

Anyone with this kind of schedule would have gotten sick.

And so she was — as we discovered around 11pm Saturday night. She had been sleepy and lethargic all evening, but we chalked it up to the copious amounts of activity from the night before and during the day at Baker Beach. But then as we prepared to take her out one last time for the evening, I noticed her sitting against the wall, blinking sleepily. Eyes drooping, and frighteningly red — she seemed very groggy and disoriented. She seemed to be trying to prop herself up rather unsuccessfully, and was slowly making her way shakily from the door to her bed under the kitchen table. Once on her bed, she couldn’t seem to get comfortable. Her nose was hot and dry, and she would occasionally sneeze, or hack dry, retching coughs.

A call to the 24-hour emergency All Animals Veterinary Hospital on 9th Ave. and I made the mistake of “admitting” that she had had a set of DHLPP shots on Friday. Chalking that up as the problem, the on-duty person on the other line summarily dismissed the call.

We tried Pets Unlimited next and had better luck — and we were asked to bring Harlow in. It’s definitely a very wonderful thing to be able to provide your puppy with emergency care in the middle of the night where the facilities look as state-of-the-art as some of the better human hospitals around. The nurse(?)/ physician’s assistant who greeted us first took Harlow alone to do a preliminary checkup and then invited us back to a room to wait for the doctor.

After a bit of a wait, wherein we used some tissues to wipe the thin snot coming from the puppy’s nose, and tried to keep her from jumping off the cold steel examining table, Dr. Megan Moser was wonderful. She diagnosed Harlow with a cold and prescribed antibiotics (Clavamox) and a cough suppressant (Torbugesic). In addition, they administered a quantity of water subcutaneously, so when Harlow finally emerged from the ER, she had a fat pouch of of liquid literally hanging off from either side of her little body.

We came home and administered the Clavamox by splitting the pill into two and wrapping each piece in cheese. The only soft cheese we had in our fridge was Couturier Chevre, and that was what she got. Another discovery! She enjoys goat cheese very much. (We’re so proud.) The cough suppressant was cleverly disguised in a sweet karo-syrup, so that went down easily as well. And though she didn’t seem to need to go outside, we managed to lure her out one more time for one last potty, and she came willingly enough with a treat incentive.

And so, after a bit of a scare, and $196 later, she’s definitely seems much better today. She even got her usual spurt of crazy puppy energy (albeit somewhat toned down) around the same time this afternoon. We keep our fingers crossed and believe she’s definitely on the mend.

ClaudineRC: mirow.
quasistoic: dog unplugged the router.
ClaudineRC: jesus.

quasistoic (11:19:54 AM): okay. 11:30 and I can finally start work.
ClaudineRC (11:20:09 AM): mowr.
quasistoic (11:20:51 AM): our puppy decided the first thing she
was going to do this morning was eat through all
of the phone cords under my desk.

Yes, we do.

quasistoic (9:50:36 AM): and then puppydaddy took
Harlow to the backyard to potty
quasistoic (9:50:43 AM): and she went #1 and #2
ClaudineRC (9:50:48 AM): whee!
ClaudineRC (9:50:54 AM): good harlow!
quasistoic (9:51:35 AM): and the hippie with the long hair
came out and told daddy he can’t walk Harlow out there
because it attracts flies and creates a health hazard.
ClaudineRC (9:51:44 AM): doh!
quasistoic (9:52:23 AM): and so daddy told him about
Parvo and that it kills puppies and the backyard is the
safest place that Harlow can potty and we can’t wait for
the day we can bring her to the park.
quasistoic (9:52:44 AM): and the hippie said “Okay, then.
That’s a good excuse. I guess that’s okay.”
ClaudineRC (9:52:52 AM): *whew*
ClaudineRC (9:53:02 AM): thank goodness for the
hippyness of the hippie.
quasistoic (9:53:23 AM): and then the hippie never
bothered Harlow’s mommy and daddy ever again. And
everyone lived happily everr after. The End.
ClaudineRC (9:53:44 AM): YAY!

What a week it’s been. Today, it’s 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, and I’ve just gotten up from a short nap - I in my bed and Harlow in her crate - both in the bedroom. The last couple of days have been a little surreal because, yes - as Danny mentions below - our lives have completely revolved around Harlow since we took her home last Friday, July 14th. And it’s possible that most of our energies for the past week have been directed around her - this one little black-and-white pup with the wide brown eyes, speckled ears and silky fur.

From obtaining the proper Pet Addendum to our lease (which is surprisingly generous) to the Smiley Dog Home visit to trips to various pet stores for food, toys, grooming products, beds, and snacks, we were defnitely impatient in our anticipation.

And finally, she was ours.

Her schedule so far consists of: sleeping, eating, taking short walks to go potty, playtime and treats, and napping. Repeat. I’m thankful to be raising her with another person.

At night, I’ve been waking around 3:30am to take her outside, and she’s usually up around 6:30am or 7am.

We have rolled up our red rug in the living room since it appeared to be particularly appealing as a “potty place” to Harlow. There is a large puppy pen in the kitchen, and assorted dog toys and appurtenances strewn about all over the apartment. We’ve learned that she is a bit scared of the cars that flow down our very busy street and that she likes nice, sheltered and mulchy “brush” (dead leaves, fennel bushes, hay…) to “do her thing.”

I eagerly await the day that we’re able to take her to the park.