Puppy Liberation League: Pupdate 2
January 12, 2015
Life with DOG!
I can’t seem to get a dog that doesn’t turn into PiC’s dog. Within days it was clear that Seamus didn’t want PiC to be the alpha, he just wanted to be Daddy’s favorite. When PiC went away for a weekend, he pulled a classic Doggle, moping his way into bed at 7 pm: life isn’t worth living, I’m just going to bed early and maybe he’ll be here when I wake up.
So I get to be alpha in that I’m the discipline parent and PiC is the beloved parent. Which means I can always get him to take his meds, cooperate with a bath, ear cleaning, or wound care, and go to bed when I say, but any time PiC might be around, he’s a much much happier dog.
Out of the blue, Seamus decided to violate the no dogs on furniture rule, nearly destroying the slipcover in the process. When he screws up, he goes big!
Medical woes
To date, we’ve spent several hundred on his surgery, and a few more hundred on additional rounds of medications to soothe his skin as we slowly start to figure out what works to keep it happy.
After a rough start involving steroids and a stressed bladder, we went months without incident.
Clever boy tried to outsmart me. Having been scolded every time we hear him licking his paws, he tried to throw me off by licking the air for a while. I was stealth- watching and the second he thought it was safe to lick his actual paw, he was clearly shocked to hear his usual scolding. I don’t want him to aggravate his skin further so we have to regulate that pretty strictly.
His back is looking pretty wonderful, though, so there IS improvement. There are no inflammation, rashes, sores or weeping wounds – hurray!
A Dog and Our Money
I had a brainstorm when the County insisted that we license him, despite his being a foster for now. I’d just paid up for Doggle’s 3-year license this year and they don’t do refunds. But glory-be, they were willing to let Seamus take over the rest of the license! And they were amazingly easy to work with, we did it all by email and it was taken care of in just a few days. I’d be impressed by the efficiency of the local government but it was probably only because the licensing has been farmed out to a company.
Licking the AIR? Oh, that’s good, that’s verrryyy good! Cassie, who like to lick large expensive wounds in her leg, will fake me out by licking the tile floor. But she hasn’t thought of the air yet.
“they were willing to let Seamus take over the rest of the license”… That is just amazing. You can be sure our lovely county animal control agents would never put up with any such thing. I just ignore them. Discovered that if you don’t license your dog…nothing happens.
On the other hand, my dogs are extremely unlikely to bite; they’re not exposed to wild animals that might carry rabies; and I’m careful to keep them out of situations where a dogfight might occur (such as dog parks…).
Did I not say he was a clever pup? Because he is awfully clever.
We can’t get away with not licensing here – I won’t skip rabies vaccines and that’s how they get your info. You could easily skip out on it in SoCal but not here. *shrug* If nothing else, it’s a minimal cost and given their great attitudes about transferring the license, I don’t begrudge them.