Little Bridges Toward Success

When I picked Cabana up from the GDB kennels yesterday, I was told they had treated Cabana for ear infections in both ears. I was so surprised because I check her ears fairly regularly--and just a day or two before I brought Cabana into the kennels, I had marvelled to myself how clean her ears looked. Shows how much I know. Of course, she might have contracted the ear infections after she arrived there, who's to say.

They also upped her food to 2 cups, twice a day--hooray! I'm so pleased that Cabana can eat a little more. Like most Labs, nothing makes her happier than eating.

Cabana also came home with a bad case of diarrhea, which made itself plain just before our puppy meeting last night. Then, at puppy group, Cabana kept whining and whining. I thought she had picked up a bad habit while in the kennels (the dogs can be pretty loud there), so I corrected her (repeatedly) during the meeting to try to get her to stop. Then, she gave me "the stare"--and all of the sudden, I realized her whining was to let me know she needed to go out! And sure enough, I took her outside, and she had another bout of diarrhea. I felt AWFUL for correcting her when she had been doing the right thing all along! Poor thing!

This morning, though, the diarrhea seems to have cleared up. And we went for our usual morning walk. For the first 10 minutes of our walk, Cabana PULLED like the dickens. I felt like we were starting at ground zero. She has never been a perfect walker, and we still struggle with distractions--but today it seemed extra bad. Then, after a few well-timed (albeit non-protocol) pieces of kibble, Cabana walked better than she ever has before. A beautiful loose leash, no shenanigans--it was heavenly!



Toward the end of our route, I stopped to take these photos on a little bridge we cross. I removed her head collar for the photos--but then, I was able to leave it off for the remainder of our walk. I figured if Cabana got too pull-y, I would put it back on--but I didn't need to! Don't know how things will be tomorrow--but I'll take that little step toward success today!

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On My Own

For the first time in 18.5 years, I am home alone for an entire week. My older daughter is in Europe, and my husband and younger daughter are in Tennessee. After all these years of taking care of others, which I certainly enjoy and am happy to do, I'll have a week of taking care of only just me. Eat what I want to eat, watch what I want to watch, take as long as I want when I'm shopping, and go for runs instead of walking, since Cabana's not supposed to run.

So, in order to enjoy this once-in-two-decades novelty to the fullest, I took Cabana to Guide Dogs' kennels. People in my puppy group encouraged me to, saying that the puppies love being at the kennels because it's like a perpetual play date. Cabana loves playing with other dogs so much, so that seemed appealing. Also, they said that Guide Dogs will give Cabana a bath and trim her nails to the perfect length--so it's like a spa getaway. At least one of us will get pampered this week! (Actually, I'm not into getting pampered myself. I'd ruin a manicure in about 2 minutes.)



Here are the first dogs we saw when Cabana and I walked into the kennels. One of the dogs behind the fence looks SO much like Cabana. I wonder if they are related. They had told me on the phone when I called GDB not to bring anything, so I didn't even bring Cabana's head collar. Which meant that Cabana was pulling me along like CRAZY! In the reception office, there were a few dogs sitting by the workers. Cabana just wanted to go check them out so badly, and I could barely keep her controlled. Finally, the woman that was checking us in got a head collar out of her desk drawer and put it on Cabana. Yikes, are any other dogs as rambunctious as Cabana?! Lordy lordy.



Here's my last peek at Cabana, as the GDB employee was taking Cabana in to her "room." She said she would pair Cabana up with a roommate of similar temperament (i.e. extremely high energy), so they could rock and roll all night, and party every day.

So my first goal for my week alone is to reupholster this old chair. I got this chair for $10 (was it even worth that?) a couple years ago, and it has been sitting in the garage, awaiting a makeover. I'm so happy to finally get to work on it! Boy, I really know how to cut loose, don't I!

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