Turns out, it was a dog’s day

A Prairie Notebook

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I’m apparently not capable of handling two dogs and a cell phone.
On a recent trip to the veterinary, those are the only things I needed to keep track of. Typically, my husband is the one to take Tessa, 5, and Charlie, 4, for their annual shots. I can see why now. But we were in a bind, and it was up to me to do duty this year.
With the dogs leashed and loaded in the backseat of the truck cab, I set out on a pleasant drive with snoozing pups.
The plan was to take one in at a time so I didn’t have to struggle with two. The other one would sit calmly in the vehicle. But when I opened the door, both dogs barreled out, a golden followed by a mini Aussie. I grabbed the first leash and got tugged across the parking lot, all the while trying to grab Tessa’s leash while she ran around in circles like a race hound.
“Oh my, she’s a busy one,” a woman exiting the vet office said, while calmly holding her pocket-sized pup and trying to give me a hand. Once I had both dogs by the leashes, the woman kindly opened the door for me so we could blast across the waiting room to the front desk.

We were early, but I’m not sure the staff thought it would be a good idea to make us wait so they weighed the dogs and put us in a room. Charlie hit the scale at 78 pounds, about right for his size, while Tessa checked in at a chubby 25 pounds. The vet would like her to lose a few pounds, but now that it’s spring, she said it’ll probably be a more active time for her. Apparently, she missed seeing her zoom around the parking lot.
In the exam room, the pups were pretty anxious, and I only bled once.
Charlie, who sometimes believes he is an 8-pound baby puppy, sat as close as possible without actually crawling onto my lap. I couldn’t take my hand off of him or he would put his front paws up on my lap ready to crawl aboard.
Tessa zigzagged underneath my chair completely tangling herself up and licked me from fingertips to elbow. If I didn’t pet her, she jumped up on my arm and scratched with her paws. With one swipe, she snagged my skin and blood started dripping down my wrist.
By the time the doctor and two staff members came in, I was exhausted and holding a bloody tissue. All we had to get through were three shots each and blood draws to test for Heartworm. It only took two of them to hold Tessa, but three tried holding Charlie, and one technician ended up sitting in the corner on top of my dog while he pawed the air, and everyone yelled for him to sit.
When it was over, I took Charlie to the truck and left Tessa in the exam room with a helper. I paid the bill, including money for a prescription for Charlie’s ear infection, grabbed the other dog and left.
In my haste, I forgot my cell phone in the exam room and had to make a return trip to pick it up.
That evening when the pups were happily back in our grassy yard, laying around and just enjoying being dogs, my husband suggested we go out for ice cream and take Charlie and Tessa for pup cups. They looked out the window during the ride and lapped up their free ice cream, acting like the angels they can be.
I got the trauma; he got the treats.