So this morning Azzie was sick as well. It came on suddenly and I had no idea why it happened.

So initially I was just going to get some more sucralfate but after their dose this morning proved no help at all to either of them, I called the vet to see if they had any appointments. My friend Iain at the reception (we have a special relationship thanks to all my visits to the vet with my dogs) clearly picked up on my mental state (I was at my last thread, my wit’s end) and he went and spoke to the vet on duty. They made a special arrangement just for me, so I could bring in my girls today. I was touched, deeply, by this.

The vet and I (military vet this time, I’ve seen just once before) had a long chat, after he checked out the girls, and going on timelines and every other detail I could muster, we worked out a plan and a possible reason behind these new bouts of illness. To say I was relieved would be putting far too mildly.

He let me know that I had done the right thing and this was not my fault – just a pile of nasty things that had led to both the dogs getting sick like this. Including the now thawed and muddy and slushy and shit covered dog park Sunday play dates. He said they would have to wait until a nice heavy snow fall and/or next winter. I agreed. He said Azzie had clearly picked up a nasty bacteria from some other dog’s poop. He said the dog park was GREAT socialisation, but terrible medically. Too true.

I spoke to my friend Ciara (it’s her dogs that we meet every Sunday for our play date – Django and Luca) and while not ideal for Django (as he has to stay on lead all the time when not in an enclosed space) initially, we agreed that the dog park was not “safe” right now and we decided to go on nice long Sunday hikes instead. More exercise for the dogs, anyway, as they had recently been very lackluster in terms of chase games and fetching toys so their dog park dates were quite quiet and they were certainly not tired after them.

As for Azzie’s behaviour issues, a few lovely kind and positive words from my friend Nicole (dog behaviourist/psychologist) have put me in a better frame of mind when it comes to dealing with Azzie’s bullshit. She’s a difficult dog, and she won’t change (maybe mellow a LITTLE bit with age) and I just have to learn that it’s not ME that’s causing it, it’s just the way she is. Still going to start some individual walks for the girls, to help with Gina’s stress levels, but I’m going to try very hard to just let the behaviour be checked, but not overwhelm me.

It’s been a crappy couple of weeks, I have to say, but today has boosted me up  bit and that’s no bad thing.

I also bought another Adaptil diffuser for the room. It might help Gina as well.