I’m finally starting to feel somewhat normal again, despite a few stray coughs and sniffles. But, I spent most of this week catching up on work that didn’t get done last week. (A massive house cleaning still awaits.) That means we did nearly no training this week. Instead, here are some observations about Lilly’s reaction to her best dog friend Katie meeting Ginko last week.
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I’ve written before about this new, special, psycho-acoustic music for dogs from Through a Dog’s Ear. We find it VERY helpful in our amped up canine household, so I’m happy to report that there is a second CD out in the Music to Calm Your Canine Companion series. …
It’ll be a while until things are back to normal around here, but I wanted to update you on my one attempt at combating Lilly’s new whine strategy — whining to Ginko. …
Despite Tom’s clever toenail cast made from superglue and paper towel, Ginko is still suffering from his badly broken toenail from last week. It’s snapped about halfway up and hanging there at a 70% angle, still somewhat attached. Poor buddy. And, when Ginko is in pain, he’s a very clingy boy. We’ve taken to calling him Barnacle Bill because he is STUCK to one of us at all times. …
Last Sunday, we got the sad news that Lilly’s best friend Katie needs a new home. Without bogging down in the details, suffice it to say that Katie’s own shyness/fear issues have impacted her bonds at home. Our hearts immediately turned toward heroism. Where better, we thought, for Katie to live than with US? Lilly loves her. We love her. She thinks we’re pretty neat, too. She often watches us play in the pasture, looking longingly over from her front corner perch. So, despite our rule of being a 2-dog house, we started figuring out a solution. Sadly, …
Despite the continuing onslaught of germs, I’m actually up and working this morning on a relatively normal schedule since I have an interview at 9:30 am for my next Healthypet Magazine article, so Lilly and Ginko are jockeying for standby nap positions. I just watched the most interesting negotiation between them. …
So, the germs are still hanging on, which means I’m working as much as I can muster, then sleeping. Sometimes that means 3 hours up, 1 hour down. Then, there are days like today, when I’m up for about an hour, then down for 2-3. I don’t get this sick very often — maybe every 3-4 years, so Lilly has only seen me down for the count like this maybe once before. And, she’s not liking it. …
I’m beyond sick with some crazy winter virus. No energy to write anything. Hope to be back to normal later this week. …
We continued to use public training moments as our proving ground this week. Here’s how our first hike of the season went.
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I wrote a piece last week on the recession’s impact on veterinary medicine. In my research to help quantify things, I found some interesting data. For example, between 1980 and 2005, what people spend on veterinary services virtually doubled in real dollars. That means, even with adjustments for inflation, pet owners are spending about 100% more per year. And, for the “best clients,” who routinely take pets to the doctor (aka … you and me), it’s actually 124% of what it used to be. …
