Like Father, Like Son

Last Friday I was a mile from home and realized I had stepped in poo (Pippin's) and had to turn around and come back home to change shoes. (It was bad people, real bad.) Today as we were about to leave we ended up having to take Pips to the emergency vet. I think Pippin is trying to keep us (or me anyway, since I also freaking stepped in poo Monday am) from working.

Last night I was sorting laundry post a lovely bike ride while Pippin was in the adjoining room chewing on his purple Halloween stuffed owl. Innocent enough, right? Then he had a major squeal, jumped up and sort of curved his back in pain. I thought maybe he bit his tongue in his owl destruction mode, so I checked his tongue, made sure he was ok and he decided to roll around in the dirty laundry instead and finish off the owl later. The rest of the night he seemed a little lethargic, he wouldn't dance for his dinner and he went to bed pretty early. I didn't think a lot of it because we all have nights like that and he and Brent had had a really nice session of chase earlier and I thought he might be a bit buggered out.

This morning he did his normal symphony of licking about 5 minutes before my alarm goes off, and when he got up to go outside while I was getting ready it seemed like he was moving a little slow. When he came back in we noticed he was arching his back a bit and he just couldn't sit down and get comfortable. He was also smacking his mouth over and over again like he does when he's about to puke. He just seemed like he was in pain. We went out with him to see if maybe he would eat grass and puke, but when he wasn't even interested in peeing on anything or running around we knew it was time to call the vet. They didn't open until 8, and it was just now 7 so I called in to work that I would be late and we curled up with Pippin until around 7:45 when we decided to just show up and not wait until they open. Traffic was horrendous and he kept panting and changing positions in my lap. But of course once we pulled in he was all sorts of jazzed to be there.

He is so frustrating - even when his knee was dislocated he would go ape at the vet and end up falling over the place on sheer excitement and adrenaline. It's nuts. So, once again, I'm trying to explain to them how "odd" and "lethargic" our now hyper dog was this morning. And apparently he's quite fond of one of the assistants because everytime she came in he went even more insane. She said she worked on Labor Day weekend (when he was there being boarded) so I guess the little guy remembers her fondly. Anyway, he was poked, prodded, expressed and massaged and apparantly (the best they can tell) he has pulled a muscle in his back. He's got anti-inflamms for a few days and is to be on bed rest. Have you met Pippin? Bed rest is about next to impossible for him, but we did leave him in his crate today while we worked, because he does spend his days climbing our couches, all of them.

So when we left we were talking about how he might have pulled this muscle?? His only painful sound was chewing on a stuffed toy. And then Brent reminded me - he pulled his neck eating oatmeal, so it's just as likely our boy has pulled his back chewing on an owl. Go figure.

Now I'm home from work and I can still tell he feels bad, but not quite as bad as this morning. Hopefully the meds will work and loosen him up a bit.

On tap for this weekend - 10 running miles, some swimming and biking and hopefully some good yard work. It's going to be a GORGEOUS weekend here in TN and our yard needs some TLC. Brent's also in the SNAP photography show that starts tomorrow night, so come out if you're in the 'hood!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rae

WIDTW-
Sat-12 miles run
Sun - 550m swim, 40 mins toning
Mon - 4.2 miles run
Tue - 4.2 miles run
Wed - 30 mins elliptical, 550m swim
Thur - 4.2 miles run, 7 miles bike