Things are back to normal

Sorry it's been so long. I'm pretty useless Tuesday through Fridays now, and last weekend I went to Dallas to see my brother and his family. I hadn't seen them since Christmas, when little Nathan was only 2 weeks old. He is now 7 months old and a lot more fun. He's laughing, smiling, playing and learning. We got to get out of the house in between nap and snack time. He's going to be a good swimmer, he already visits the community pool (I'm jealous - I want a community pool!). It was so great to visit and I had a lot of fun! Check out some pictures and soon I'll add a video - it keeps saying there's an error when I try to save it or import it - I just love computers sometimes...

On a happy/sad note, I took Anya away this morning. She went to Paws N' Play, a specialty pet store. The owner allows 2 cats to hang out in the store so people can see them and adopt them from there. I'm a little concerned about the situation since I know she doesn't like dogs and people bring their dogs in sometimes. Also, she tries to dart out of doors, and I'm worried she'll get out when people come in and out. It's right on the street and she has the personality that makes me think she wouldn't hang around.

I was much more attached to her than the kittens. She really grew on me. I wish I could've kept her, but I already have one too many cats in my house.

So, things are back to normal and I can keep the guest bedroom door open, so maybe it won't still be 80 degrees in there, even with A/C. My upstairs wasn't built with A/C in mind since the vents are on the floor. And there's only 1 vent in there, and only 2 in my bedroom. Oh well, at least the downstairs is cool.

I don't smell like an ashtray!!

Last night was the first night I went out since Denver passed a smoking ban in all public restaurants and bars. It was soooo nice! I didn't have to come home and rinse out my hair or keep my clothes I had worn in another room just to have a good nights sleep. I am so excited to go out now.

Things are ok at work still. There was an incident that happened that bothered me. Unfortunately, in the vet world, you come to realize how many dogs out there are not trained. And it gets frustrating when they won't let you do what you need to do. In this business, we have to restrain animals and hold them down sometimes, and outsiders may see this as "mean" or "forceful." However, restraining an animal correctly doesn't hurt the animal, in fact, it's meant to keep the animal from hurting you or itself.

The other day, however, one of the techs who I really like otherwise got frustrated with a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy who wouldn't let her take its temperature so she grabbed it by the scruff and pinned it to the ground. It cried out and she told it to "stop it, I'm not hurting you, scruffing you doesn't hurt." Being the type to just say what's on my mind, I said that it probably does hurt since it cried out, and she snapped back at me. She later apologized, but I was shocked and was upset that she did it in the first place. Especially to a puppy. We all lose our patience, but we need to know when to walk away and take some deep breaths.

Back in the day, trainers used to tell people to do the alpha rollover (like above - pinning the dog down) to get "dominance" over the dog and to show it who's in charge. Nowadays, behaviorists and good trainers know that this is ridiculous and does more harm than good - and it's a great way to make a dog aggressive. I'm just surprised that at this facility, which is so up-to-date on medicine, is so behind in behavior.

It just sucks because 98% of the time, she's wonderful to the animals, but that really made me mad. Maybe it's time they had a little CE class on Animal Behavior. Because the way some of them act around dogs, someone's going to get bit one of these days, and it won't be the dog's fault.

Anyway, sorry to vent. I'm sleep deprived - although I took about 4 naps yesterday! It's been raining non-stop for about 2 days now (reminds me of Erie!) and it's getting depressing. I wanted to take the dogs somewhere but that's not happening. I guess I'll have to clean :(

Bye bye kittens

So yesterday I brought the kittens to Care to stay until they are adopted. It was sad, and they were so scared, but I know they will have a better chance of getting socialized there. I forgot my purse and had to go back, and 2 receptionists and 2 techs were each holding one. That's what they need, people to get them over their fear of being touched. All the different noises and dogs walking by will be great for them.

I still have the mom in my guest bedroom. She yowled all night and I had to wear earplugs to sleep. I'm not sure if she was calling for her babies, or if she's going into heat again. Then, just now I went in there to visit, and she started the yowling as she was playing with some toys. It's funny, she never played with anything when the kittens were around and now that they're gone, she's a kitten again. I guess she's just very vocal.

I'm trying to "dry her milk up" so we can have her spayed soon. This is not a fun process. It involves starving her - Day 1: no food at all, Day 2: 1/4 can , Day 3: 1/2 can, Day 4: 3/4 can. That may be part of the yowling today. I foresee earplugs again tonight.

I'm also watching Steph's dogs, so 3 dogs and Pooh on the bed at night, plus this new fun yowling makes for some sleepless nights. So much for my relaxing 4 day weekend... Oh well, that's what naps are for.

Well, back to my Sex and the City marathon...