Sick Lady

Yesterday afternoon she started hacking, sounded like something was stuck in her throat. This morning it was worse, so off we went to the vet and came home with antibiotics, cough suppressants and a diagnosis of kennel cough. Not in her lungs yet, so hopefully she'll get better quickly. No interest in standard food today, but she opened wide for balls of liverwurst and cream cheese, with and without pills inside. She's coughing less now, lethargic, napping. I'm standing guard over her (sitting, actually). Saturday is my day to listen to hours of NPR anyhow. Upside, she's gained a pound.

Funny watching her change as she settles in. Day 3, she suddenly dared to get up on the bed and refused to move off it. She only weighs 42 pounds, felt like about a hundred trying to move her. Repeat, repeat. It took two days for her to give up trying, but she hasn't tried since. Once she gets it, she doesn't forget. Can't blame her for trying, but I'm not feeling sorry for somebody who has three cushy beds of her own scattered around the house.

Only yesterday morning, no cough yet, she was madly dashing through puddles in the park with a look of pure joy. I dared to turn her loose briefly, as she had started responding to her name. But I didn't push it. At the first sign of her testing whether she had to come or not, I leashed her up. She needs to build the habit gradually, and I didn't have any treats on hand to help that out. Homie had such good behavior, and its easy to forget he didn't come that way. Lady has to learn from scratch never to step off the curb on her own. We started that, along with staying on my left. We had two lessons on "Fix it," the command I use for when the dog gets the leash wrapped around something and has to figure out how to unwind. I do it by just standing there, waiting, saying "Fix it" until she accidentally moves in the right direction. Every time she does, I praise her and tighten the slack. Eventually she gets unwound, and hopefully it gets easier and easier with repetitions.