I have allergies year round that are especially bad during season changes. This past week I have not been getting much good sleep due to congestion that wakes me every few hours. My thoughtful, sensitive husband has been giving Leia her morning sprints for me so that I can lie in bed a little longer. He runs much faster than I and so Leia is quite tired after just 20 minutes. I normally run intervals with her for an hour with a weighted doggy backpack since my running pace is much slower.
Last night it was stormy and this morning it was still drizzling hard. Ryan left the bed at some point this morning and when I awoke I figured he was out running with Leia as usual since she was gone too. She came back to the room later on with no collar or leash and I got a little irritated because before bed, and throughout the afternoon, I was reminding Ryan to leave her leash on for me because she has an 8:00 A.M, appointment at the vet. Getting her leash on can sometimes take a while with her excitement to go outside.
I asked him how his run went. He says he didn't run with her because of the rain and he wasn't feeling well...I got a little more than irritated because he was in the next room for the last hour reading internet articles and didn't even follow our indoor rainy day plan for exercising Leia. He didn't wake me and tell me probably because he knows I wasn't feeling well yesterday and again today either. A sweet gesture, but I was still annoyed at that the moment.
It was a really rough start to my day. Since I couldn't change it and 8:00am was fast approaching, I got Leia into her downstairs crate and calmly put her collar and leash on and left her there in a "sit-stay" while I got my coat and wallet together. Of course, it takes another ten minutes to get her to calmly exit the front door after me, calm down to "sit-stay" while I lock the door. Then finally "sit-stay" while I unlock the Jeep and release her to enter.
We get to the clinic first, but I wanted to let her relieve herself before we entered. As I was walking Leia towards the grass I stepped in some muddy dog poo. Great. This morning is getting better by the minute. After nearly sanding down the sole of my poor sneaker, I hustle her to the front door for another "sit-stay" while I enter before her. Phew, only one other dog in the waiting room and it's a lap dog, no fuss for Leia thank goodness. But, I relaxed too soon. Next, was an elderly yellow lab and Leia starts lunging, barking her head off, hackles up, totally on the defense because the presence of another dog agitates her. I already have her backed into a corner of the seating area because it is there that she is forced into a "sit" with her back to the wall. A golden retriever enters and her barking escalates to maniacal as the other dog totally ignores her. Then a baby boxer enters and another golden retriever. We are in a small waiting room full of hyper dogs and Leia is about to jump out of her skin. They call our name and we work our way to the door and as Leia tries to lunge through the entryway I pull her back to let me enter first. Her focus shifts back onto one of the retrievers standing nearby with the owner. Leia reaches out and licks or nips the other pup on the muzzle. Other pup looks fine, owner looks mortified, I apologize, my vet calls us in again to try to control the mayhem, I'm so embarrassed..
We go to the exam room and she is still worked up. Leia is jumping and pacing, whining and circling. We are here because a little over two weeks ago we had her rear dew claws removed because they were the dangling type, and with my love for hiking I was worried that she might snag it on some brush. This was a follow-up visit to see how her ankle was healing since the bandages were removed last week. She hasn't been licking it much and so we do not need an Elizabethan Collar today, phew. I didn't think I could take her seriously if she had one of those on! The first smile I cracked all morning.
We leave the building and standing in the drizzle I have Leia and I pause, and just be still while I calm myself down from the morning that was moving too fast for me. There was the waiting room circus blunder, the lack of communication from my husband earlier, and how her NOT being tired from exercise before the vet visit contributed to her out-of-this-world hyperactive state. I also lamented the fact that the dog trainer from the Petsense five minutes away from my house never returned my email inquiry about her Saturday classes, and how the dog trainer from Westgate Vet Clinic had to keep canceling his sessions on account of weather the last two weeks. I wanted to observe them both and haven't had a chance to do so yet. I badly want to be trained to understand Leia better and for her to communicate better with me as well.
As soon as we got home I further decompressed with a fitness magazine while she was crated in the same room. I was out of sight on the couches and to help her adjust I left the door open and relied on her obedience that she'd "stay" in her crate. She only left once, But she stayed mostly and that was my second smile this morning. I ate breakfast and then poured her kibble. It was time for her to earn her meal. I grabbed a handful of her kibble into my pocket and threw the tennis ball down my stairs for about 20minutes to wear her out with fetch. Each throw is earned by a "sit" or "down" command. This is the "solo-human rainy day exercise plan". If Ryan were home one of us would be upstairs and the other downstairs. She's earn her throw across a hallway and then Ryan would holler to me that it's my turn. Then I'd call her and up, or down the stairs, and she sprints with a ball in tow ready to earn another toss. This wears her out very quickly and so I like this activity the best for rainy days.
After my pocket kibble was depleted I had her meet me in the bedroom for a "sit-down-wait" then she got her whole bowl of food.
Third smile of the day? Seeing Leia have fun and not stressed out.
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