In retrospect, i'm pretty impressed at the tenacity of the dental tech, at no point did she flinch or remove the impression mould from my mouth.

Yep, she was pretty hard-core! I was doing that cat hair-ball "KKKKCCCHHH Hark!" impression, and she just kinda shoved in in harder with one hand and pulled me forward and crooned "Breathe through it, breathe through it."

Kinda like some dates I've had, actually.

I'm worried about the dalmatian again. She hasn't been eating all week -- we feed them a yogurt cup of dry food at breakfast and again at dinner, and she's eaten, at best, 1/2 a yogurt cup only once a day all week. And some days I think she's eaten maybe a bite or two and that's it.

She's been sporadically doing the not-eating thing for about a month, but that's been maybe once a week, until this week. She's dropped a lot of weight -- enough that I can feel her knobby spine when I pet her, and I didn't use to be able to. (In contrast, the coonhound is such a solid chunk of dog -- with a double coat, no less -- that I can't ascertain with my hands that he HAS a spine. [Okay, I kid. But just barely. The dog is 70 pounds. And I suspect 20 of that is fur.])

Fortuitously, all 4 pets go to the vet tomorrow morning for a checkup, so we're going to find out (1) if she has a specific ailment, and (2) if not, what the best thing is to get her eating again. I don't relish the thought of cooking organ meats for the dog, but if it'll get her to eat, I'll gladly do it.

Pup~ma, Tep.

There is the a/d food that conveniently already is chock full of precooked organ meat and can be used as pet Ensure on advice of your vet.

Oh my. Special wishes for a quick and simple solution for Chloe, Steph.

Smonster, when I was training Dallas to her sherpa bag for a couple days I would only play with her if she sat in it. So we'd sit on the couch watching TV with her in the bag and me rubbing her ears, playing with toys, and zipping it a little more each day. The whole thing took less than a week.

The crate she took to INSTANTLY. Still sleeps in it even when the door is open. Doggies like caves. (the carrier had soft sides so wasn't as cavey, far more closed in)

So, worst comes to worst you can be all hardcore and have play time = crate time and show no love otherwise. It's painful to do, but its only for a few days. And having her crate trained IS SO WORTH IT.

(soooooooooooooo excited for the puppeh!)

Sorry for the anorexic puppy, Teppy.

Maybe the vet will see a wonky tooth or something mad simple and this will be OVUH.

So, Erin, the rest of that vicodin...

Hee. I'm sure I will use it for something, Truds.

Like Mondays. Or painful hangnails.

Hangnails on Monday?

You guys are so nice with the animal caretaking. Ex-wife's annoying dog got out of the yard last Saturday night at 4 am, and so I was driving around the hood at 4:30 am, whistling, and all I could think was "Damn, I hope he's lost for good."

I am a horrible person. I don't want anything BAD to happen to him; I just want him to go away, to a nice farm or somewhere he can shed and be hyper and try to eat the cats ELSEWHERE. I have no emotional investment in this dog, and neither does Dan. Ex couldn't take him when they moved because she rented a no-pets house, and now they are in Pennsylvania and she all "Oh, there are mean dogs to both sides -- we need to put up a better fence." And she had the gall to bitch when the lady who found the dog called her number, which was on the tag; she emailed "This is silly -- you need to change the tags."

Which pissed me off -- I was tempted to write "Yes, it is silly. IT'S YOUR DAMN DOG. It's been 2 years!"

She pulls stunts that end up with M. calling and saying "Mommy says that Arthur isn't Mommy's dog or Daddy's dog; he's MY dog, right?" So D. doesn't want to be the baddy who gets rid of his son's dog, and ex keeps coming up with excuses, and we have this dog neither of us wants so his son can stratch his ears once a week for a month and a half every year!

So -- I WAS a bit relieved when he got out. And felt bad for being relieved. But (le sigh) he came back.

D. has way more moral compunctions than I do, because I want to find him a nice home somewhere with sheep or goats or something, and then tell M. "He ran away." M. plays with him for about 3 minutes every visit, anyway.

And he barks. Shrilly. At everything. And sheds. Pounds and pounds. And vomits and shits if we leave him for more than a day (with a watcher coming in.) And must have expensive dog food for his nervous stomach. And we can't get him fixed because she "might want to breed him someday." (He's 8.)

Good god, I just realized he's the canine doppelganger of the ex.

Wow, the ex really wants to stay around without having to BE around.

I can understand M wanting to know "his dog" is waiting for him. Maybe you can find a family where the pup could get lots of fresh air and exercise but M can visit when he comes to town. I'd certainly adopt a dog with that condition. Hell, I'd even lend the dog back to you for the kid's visit. Open Doggy Adoption is the wave of the future!

Kinda like some dates I've had, actually.

...ahem. Isn't there a certain b.org legend about someone who horked on a ...date? IJS.

I too had to breathe very carefully when they were fitting me for the nightguard thingie.

(And I second the "Open Doggie Adoption" concept, because damn. I would so not have the patience)

In fact, that would be a GREAT way to adopt a dog. I'd plan vacations or construction for while the dog was at Summer Camp with you.