I’ve already begun to fret about how I’m going to persuade my willful new puppy that going outside to widdle and poo in the snow is a good thing!
The first time in his world when actual water fell from the sky, it was the middle of the night and just hammering down. We stepped out the back door and he was utterly nonplussed. He kept trying to stand on my feet and use me as a human umbrella as he angry-whined at me for 20 minutes instead of getting down to business. So help me, I finally hunched over and let the rain pummel my back… and became his human umbrella, so we could return the fuck to the dry indoors!
This happens a bunch so I’m thinking it’s just another blood test or X-ray. They said nothing about a scan which would be in a different building. So we go to the lab. They sent me to another place and I’m handed a cup. I can’t pee, peeps. Sorry, no kidneys.
My concern: they were positively perturbed. Kinda acted like I might be lying. Ivy sat 'em straight on that.
Concern #2: who in my immediate health care persons do not know this or forgot it to the point of sending me for a urinalysis?
Concern #3: they wanted me to go for a blood sample Since I was there…
WTH?
I’ve lived here in the rain for nearly 20 years… how did that never occur to me?
Oh, wait. It did.
Honestly, hard downpours here are so rare that in all this time, I’ve never procured an umbrella. I don’t mind the usual Oregon mizzle. It’s not worth having an umbrella leaned up in an awkward spot to be to hand at 2:30 a.m. when the puppy and I stumble out for his evening constitutional. Soon he will not need the middle-of-the-night break as his bodily functions mature. Just another month or two should do it.
I appreciate a problem-solving mind, all the same!
I lived my early life in nearly rain-free places and never owned an umbrella. Then I moved to the tropics where rain is so heavy and windy that an umbrella is useless.
Now umpteen years later I never think of the darn things. I own them, but when it’s time to go out my instinct is either “the weather is to good to need an umbrella” or “the weather is too bad to use an umbrella”. The middle case “the weather is bad and an umbrella would be good” which really does exist here just never comes to mind unless I’m really thinking of it. Which tends not happen (for me at least) at o-stupid-thirty.
I’m not a pet person, but around here it seems many pet owners arise several times every night throughout the life of their pets to take them outside. I’m interested, and pleased, to learn that you don’t expect to need to continue to do the same. Makes me wonder what fraction of Americans’ well known chronic sleep deprivation is actually due to the explosion of a very indulgent brand of pet ownership?
I haven’t owned a rain umbrella for most of my adult life. I did buy a huge golfer’s umbrella at a yard sale once, but that was for kayak sailing.
Our old dog Loki wakes me every night at 3 or 4 am. I take her out on a leash to pee (no leash and she’d chase the bedded down deer). I enjoy taking her out and I really enjoy going back to sleep.
This week is almost over. Thank Og for that. I’m so tired.
Monday was ABA Evaluation.
Tuesday was disastrous attempt at EEG.
Today… All the things.
Wee Weasel had his medical exam for insurance purposes. Resistant to most of the things asked of him. The spot of good news - he gained weight!
Child is in peak asking annoying questions mode. “What song is this? What tree is that? What does this mean? Which way are we going to turn? What song is this?” Ad nauseum. I know, I know, it’s a parent rite of passage. I’m low on patience today.
Dropped him off. In two hours, we are going to our first parent/teacher conference, then I’m driving across town to pick the boy up and take him to OT.
Then we are done for the week!
Starting potty training this weekend though. That will be a whole thing, I’m sure.
And parent meeting next Tuesday for final insurance approval for ABA. We know this is a slam dunk.
But then we will be done, right?
Right?
I can’t wait for Thanksgiving! We always visit my Aunt and Grandma and Wee Weasel has a blast and Mom and Dad get a break from constantly entertaining him. Win-win all around. Counting the days now…
Definitely we make allowances for the very young and the very old. As my late dachshund, Lewis, grew older, I began to give him the same middle-of-the-night consideration. I think it would be cruel to ignore their changing needs.
I might love one, too, but here in the woods, they’re an invitation to rats, possums, skunks, raccoons and worse. Plus the door to the outdoors in my bedroom where the puppy sleeps in his closed crate is a slider.
Even if I could manage one, unattended small dogs roaming around outside in the middle of the night, even close to the house, make great snacks for coyotes and cougars. (This dog would never stay close to the house.)
I’d never trust this particular pup to his own devices fossicking around even inside the house unobserved at night. He gets into enough trouble even with my eye on him as much as possible.
Yesterday as he laid next to me on the sofa, he honked down a large piece of a puppy teething ring. It’s made of gelatin and flavorings, mostly. Supposed to be quite safe – though probably not intended to be eaten in one bite.
Last night’s outdoor excursion included a massive runny poo. Then he did another in his crate an hour later. The odor woke me, I again took him outside where he continued to try to void his bowels while simultaneously making choking noises like he was trying to puke. Very alarming. Called the vet and made an appointment for their first available slot, but he seems fine now. We’ve been on a couple of walks and he’s spunky and playful, no more efforts to void.
I’ve never had a dog that required so much watching or caused so much worry!
I can understand that! My friends have lost dogs to coyotes. We’re not in the country, and we have a fence. She used to dig her way out and go walk-about but she stopped that quite a while back.
I had a bad experience with an aging cat and now I’m not sure I could ever go through that with a pet again. I go back and forth between “it was his time to go” and “I gave up on him too soon” and living in that grey area is hard. Years later and I still don’t know if I made the right decision. He was such a good cat, too.
Good luck! Not to scare you but my autistic girl took until she was 6 years old to potty train. She has sensory issues that caused her to just not be able to tell when she needed to go. But she’s got it down (mostly) pat now at 9 years old. Her accidents are mostly because she gets so enthralled with what she’s doing she forgets she has other needs.
So I finally saw a doctor about my UTI symptoms and, you guessed it, it’s a UTI. Antibiotics for me. Unfortunately, the pharmacy doesn’t open until 10 am and I had to go to work at 9 am so I won’t be able to pick them up until after work.
I agree with this 100%! One time the vet wasn’t really honest with me when my bunny was close to the end of his life, and it was a horrible week for both of us.
