Doggy Mummy

Posted on 11.30.09 to Personal, Pets by Joan

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Met a friend tonight (Hello Lilian!) who reminded me of my mummy role with my dogs. I completely forgot to blog about my first solo outing with the three pooches. To the vet. In heavy rain, no less.

I always wondered what it was like for parents who take their kids out for the first time, by themselves. I could never understand the nervousness and uncertainty they feel because I have just the one child. And she has generally been a really easy kid to take out and look after, so I never had cause for worry.

Before Jaws came along, taking my two dogs out wasn’t so much of a problem – Dinky is always trouble free and I only had to keep watch over Thunder (because people are generally afraid of him even though he is a medium-sized dog and I keep him muzzled in public to assure them) and to make sure he doesn’t yank me all over the place. With Jaws in the equation, I have another dog to look out for because I don’t want strangers thinking it’s ok to pet the cute little thing, while I deal with the other dogs, only to have Jaws sink her teeth into their hands from fear. On top of that, we were going to the vet’s, where there will be other dogs, and I was really hoping there wouldn’t be a small, white, male dog there because that would just drive Thunder crazy.

I fixed an appointment, some weeks back, to get all the dogs vaccinated. I needed to check Jaws out because she has been making funny snorting noises, looking very much like she is having difficulty breathing and her body stiffens up each time. I thought she was suffering from the condition, ‘collapsed trachea’, that’s apparently prevalent in small dogs.

As my luck would have it, it was pouring cats and dogs that day. I brought a huge towel along and dragged the pooches in the rain.

Dogs can sense vets somehow, because when we got out of the car, they all applied their doggy brakes and I had to drag them all the way to the clinic. I had to yank the two smaller ones up the step to get them in. Once inside, the two small ones were shivering violently (possibly from the rain too) and the big one was very unsettled.

The vet, one we haven’t seen before (which was also a mistake) wasn’t entirely sure whether Jaws was suffering from the ailment or not, but advised a later appointment to have her chest x-rayed. (The machine was being replaced, and Jaws’ lungs sound clear, so no cause for worry yet.)

All dogs had their jabs while the vet feared for his limbs. I had to warn him about Jaws, which terrified him so much he considered putting a muzzle on her. I think Thunder could also sense his trepidation and decided that he wanted to dominate the poor vet. I had to hug all my dogs to hold them down when they got their jabs, at the same time warning to vet to make sure he doesn’t miss and jabs me instead.

I got them all home in one piece, albeit with them feeling very sorry for themselves. Jaws decided to ignore me in the car and looked very miserable when she got home. I cleaned them up because they were drenched and had bits of dirt stuck in their fur. After spending time cuddling them, they seemed much better and were feeling less betrayed.

I reached home with a sense of achievement from having taken all doggies out, on my own, without incident. I finally understand, and empathise, why mothers view these excursions with hesitation, and then punch the air with triumphant joy after a successful outing.

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