No more rawhides for these two twerps. I’ve had enough stinkiness and potty emergencies to last a lifetime. Although… Den did grab the rawhides from a different bin than I usually do. I know Zeeke always got sick off of every other brand I tried. It appears they both do. Yuck.

Zoe today had a few major hyper spazzes. I was playing with her on the bed, tryinig to avoid getting clawed by her. (I’m watching her like a hawk… soon as she uses her paw on me I say “bad!” It’s slowly working.) She was totally spazzy, growling and bouncing and kicking and biting my hands. I played for a while, she started panting, I decided to go back to reading. I said, “Okay, enough,” and she immediately turned around and walked away. I’m so darn proud of that girl.

She’s been laying down on command at a tap of my foot. She needed that reminder still. (I think it’s hard for her to lay down when my hands and the cookie are up above her… conflicting signals/desires.) Well tonight she layed down on my first command, with no reminder. Woot! I think she’s getting it. Zeeke, of course, is still slamming his entire body to the ground when I so much as whisper the word, “down.”

Well Zoe had another trip to the vet’s today. Thankfully it was just for her Lyme booster (Lyme was not given to her as a pup at all, but it’s needed in this area), not the DA2PP (parvo/distemper), which she’s already gotten. They of course want her to come back for the parvo/distemper booster, which I’m not going to do.

I’m going to have to find a limited-slip collar for her, because she again slipped her collar when I was trying to get her in the truck. (I can’t find a limited-slip in any of the local stores, they only have buckle, prongs, or chains.) Of course being the lovable brat she is she just stood in the middle of the front yard (refusing to go near the truck), then happily trotted up to the front door. I believe what she was saying was, “NOT going there again, let me inside!” So the second time I carried her to the truck. (And tightened her collar!)

She really doesn’t like being in strange places, and the vet’s qualifies. Vehicles sometimes driving by, strange sounds and sights. But she still followed me inside when I coaxed. Inside we went and sat down. She’s the only dog there that jumps up on a seat next to her owner. All the other dogs are sitting or laying on the floor, and there’s Zoe, sitting primly beside me. I let her because she feels more secure when she’s next to me. Though she jumps down periodically to try to walk away (ie, escape) - then jumps back up when that fails. I’ve noticed that she’s very good with other dogs - she’ll walk over and sniff them, then walk off. She is much more concerned about everything else going on. The dogs (and cats) she takes for granted. She would freak at a dominant dog, I think, but even when they approach her she’s very good.

People are another matter, though. She’s very skittish around strange people, though she will let them pet her sometimes before moving out of reach. Because we only had a tech appointment today the tech said they’d just take her into the back for a minute to give her her shot and bring her back to me. I handed the leash over, but there was no way she was going to follow that lady back there, all four in reverse. So I said she’d have to be carried. The tech asked if she nipped - which is a completely fair question, since many dogs when nervous (especially as scared as Zoe was!) will nip. But I answered quite truthfully, “No.” I have no doubt about that now - Zoe would never bite someone except in a very extreme situation. Oreo would get bitchy when cornered, and wouldn’t hesitate to nip someone threatening her (except the vets, she never displayed any aggression towards them in the slightest, for some reason). Zoe just turns to mush. Granted that may change, as she is still young, but she’s 8 months old and hasn’t changed her reactions in 4 months. I was very proud of her.

Oh yes, and her weight today, a day after her 8 month birthday: 29.4 pounds. I sure could tell she’s been getting heavier to carry around! She might hit 35 or even closer 40 pounds when she fills out, if she keeps this up.

Zoe’s second trip to the vet today. Her urine test came back negative for any UTI, which I figured since the constant peeing stopped shortly after we started the antibiotics. She also got a distemper/parvo and lyme vaccination - apparently when they went through all her medical records they found out she’d only gotten her first round of shots, no follow-up. However, after we got home, I looked through my records and found she DID have both sets of shots. I or they (when we were in last time) lost the sheet of paper that showed it, though. I can’t find it anywhere, and I don’t how how they could have gotten lost here, they were all filed away together.

I really do like that vet’s office, though, it has a really great atmosphere and the vets are good with Zoe. The girls were all fawning over Zoe, they think she’s adorable. But eek is it expensive!

Her weight today (7 and a half months old): 27.8 lbs.

Zeeke has a little gas lately. Zoe has a lot She can’t do anything without letting out a fart or two… and they are rancid. We’ve had to evacuate the room a few times today. I blame me for it - I switched both dogs to Chicken Soup brand dog food, and I either Zoe isn’t adjusting to the abruptness of the switch very well, or that brand really isn’t agreeing with her. Poor girl… I feel bad for her, but I don’t really want to be near her right now either! Phew!!

Well, it appears that Zoe has a bladder infection. I took her in to the vet’s on saturday morning, but they forgot to ask me to bring in a urine sample to test. And unfortunately, she refused to go pee while there, even outdoors. So they couldn’t test to see if she did in fact. But they gave me antibiotics anyways, which I’m glad for because she’s still at it. It’s worse now I think. Every 5-10 minutes she’s crying at me, needing to go out. I feel sorry for her… and me, because it’s driving me crazy.

Official weight at the vet’s, as of Dec 31 (7 months old): 24.4 lbs.

They looked through her records and it appears she didn’t finish one of her booster shots - I believe it was the Lepto. So when I take her back in in 2 weeks to get the UTI checked (to make sure it’s gone), she’ll also get her Lepto booster and get her Lyme disease vaccination (which she had never gotten before). Lyme disease is unfortunately a big risk in this area, so it’s not optional.

Height at the shoulder blades:
Zoe: 16″
Zeeke: 26″

Her weight today on our dinky bathroom scale: 24lbs.

I went through all Zoe’s paperwork today. What a mess. Apparently she was originally in a shelter in Tennessee, where she got her shots and such. Before they released her they also gave her her rabies (with a blank certificate??) and spayed her. Then the rescue took her, where she had some more checkups and there are some health certificates for travel and such. The problem I’m having is that the vaccination dates and info are just scribbled on parts of other forms. It’s rather annoying. I think I managed to get it all worked out and written down now, though. The rescue gave me a “puppy information packet” most of which I don’t really care about, but it had a medical record folder in it. I ripped it out and filled it all out with the information on all the other random forms, so now I have a fairly clear picture of her medical history. She’s definitely up to date on all her shots, won’t need to go back until next august.