Tansy Updates, Great and Small, Part IV

Last Updated on: 2nd September 2013, 09:13 am

So it’s morning. Time to get more Tansy stuff up.

I have had so many firsts go by already. Tansy had her 2nd birthday back on May 31, and I didn’t blog a word. Shame on me. I think that must have been quite the birthday, we had a long day of work, followed up by coming home and finding Rosamae in our house. Well, I had Barb and Rosamae come outside and meet on the sidewalk, but still. That started their weekend of running around like tools. I also missed Trix’s birthday because that was my first day back at work with Tansy, and then I had to go to Guelph that night, so I was a little busy. But Trix is almost 8 and a half. Woe.

Tansy has gone through a few bags of food already, she’s had her nails done a few times, and she’s already had her first bath! That was funny. Brad and Trix were over and we decided that both pooches were going to get bathed since I once again possess a tub with a telephone shower, plus the bathroom is bigger. So, while Brad washed Trix, I tried my best to keep the curtain shut so Trix couldn’t go flying. Then we switched and I bathed Tanseroo and Brad guarded the curtain.

Man the whole time Trix was in there, she was trying to escape. Tansy gave it one solid attempt, then just gave up and let me bathe her. I think Trix and Tans must have bonded over that experience.

One thing I’ve noticed is Tansy doesn’t smell like a shampooch like Trix does after a bath, at least not that time. I bathed her, and you’d never know it. Hell, she wasn’t even getting smelly, letting me know it’s time for a bath. But she’d been home nearly 4 months, so I think it was time.

The first time I washed Tansy’s beds was funny. She was so upset when they went away, and when all the beds came back, she ran lab loops around them! That was hilarious.

It’s almost time for Tansy to get her shots updated. This feels weird to me since I’ve only had her home since April, i.e. it doesn’t feel like it’s time for an *annual* visit, but September was when she got them. I didn’t think she was due for any yet, but they say she’s due for one. I even checked with the school, and they confirmed it. Alrighty then, we’ll get it done.

It’s not that I don’t trust my vet, it’s just that this time, I want to keep better track of vaccination schedules myself. I went through Trix’s career feeling confused about what was due when. It’s not a nice feeling.

As an aside, when I checked up on when her vaccinations were due, I discovered that, in fact, there is a guide dog out there named Pansy. Oh I pity the handler. I discovered this when saying my dog’s name, and then to verify they had the right dog, they tried to verify my name and called me someone else’s name. Oh my god, there is a guide dog named Pansy.

I do tend to think Tansy’s vet clinic is awesome, and not just because of the super good guide dog discount they have. Everybody’s been pretty nice, they’ve even sent me emails full of information about meds and things. They sent me the dosages of alergy meds Tans could take so I could have it on file. Very very cool. I’m trying to train them to give me electronic receipts, and I’m not sure if I’m making headway, but other than that, they seem nice and helpful. Also Tansy loves finding the place, and it’s a place where she tends to jump a little more than I’d like. Well…good. Not having a battle every time we have to go in there is a good thing. On top of that, every freaking thing else is in the plaza with the vet place. Holy crap, if you lived in that area, you would have the whole world at your fingertips. Dangerous! The running joke if I’m looking for a new place, is to ask if it’s in this plaza.

Speaking of vets, I had to take Tansy there once for something I don’t ever remember taking Trix there for. One night, after she ate her food at the office, she got a wee bit excited, and puked a bunch of it back up! Yug! How embarrassing! I got help cleaning it up, and chalked it up to her being over-excited and went home. But the next morning, she ate her breakfast, and harfed it up too. I didn’t even know it happened because I was in the bathroom when it happened, and then avoided it when I took Tans out to pee. So poor Steve had to find it…with his foot! When I came back up, he was gagging! I felt so bad.

I was lucky, nothing serious was wrong. We think she caught a bug from when we went to the NFB convention. But still. There’s something I have never had to deal with in Trix’s career. The closest I came was the day she couldn’t stop horking as she walked, but she never threw up.

Like I said, I think Tansy and Trix are getting closer and closer. It’s kind of adorable. After that day in July when we got video of them playing, Brad and Trix came over for a weekend, and they spent the whole weekend together. In terms of energy level, you really couldn’t tell the dogs apart…and they both looked just as spent after they were playing. But they seemed to very much enjoy each other’s company. Then they saw each other a month later, and I do believe they slept next to each other. They kind of battled over a bed, but they settled down and snored side by side. Damn I needed a picture.

I have to mention one funny thing they did. One morning, they started playing downstairs before everybody was up. Let’s just say first that when they get going, they can make quite a bit of noise. But this time, they kept all their noises low. It was like they were whispering! So cute!

I also notice that Tansy misses Trixie. I can’t speak for Trix, but after Brad and Trix left that weekend, Tansy kept searching the house for them, kind of like she searched it when she first arrived wondering where the dog was.

I have to comment on this too. For years, when I would read about dog thunder and fireworks fear looking for more things to try, I would always read the belief that they’re taking their cues from the human, and that’s the primary reason for their fear. I would then think about myself, feeling sure that I wasn’t afraid…but if that was the big way they got their fears, was I conveying something I didn’t know about? Well, thanks to Tansy, I can stop blaming myself. We have been through all the things that made Trixie wig, and Tansy has been a rock. Trixie was even here for a storm, with Tansy, and she wigged out and Tansy didn’t. So either Tansy is the world’s biggest exception to the rule, or I can officially stop blaming myself for Trix’s fears.

Now that Tansy has been home this long, I find myself momentarily forgetting which dog I had when a story comes up. Or, I’ll be petting Tansy and unintentionally start searching for Trixie’s fat lumps. Oh god, the dogs are melding into one dog in my head. Has anyone else done this?

I’d better stop…again. I have a few more, but it’s looking like an achievable goal now.