It is that time of year. Our dogs, Haley and Sasha are due for their wellness exam and vaccinations. For many reasons I choose to take them to the vet one at a time.
Thursday was Haley’s day. About 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment time, I took her out back to go to the bathroom. When I brought her back in I had Cody take Sasha to the back room so she would not be too disappointed when Haley and I left without her.
Haley was suspicious right off the bat, requiring much coaxing to leave the comfort and familiarity of the couch.
Haley has anxiety. She always has.
We drove the short distance to the vet clinic and were shown into an exam room. Haley, who is a solid 70 pounds (72 to be exact), alternated between lying next to me getting belly rubs and trying to squeeze between the wall and the chair I was sitting in to become invisible.
The vet technician came in and we chatted about Haley’s health and her anxiety medications. Then she asked if she could take Haley in the back for the exam and vaccination.
“According to this,” she said referring to her computer screen, “Haley urinates when she gets her vaccines.”
Off they went.
I texted Husband: Poor Haley! They have a note in her file that she pees when given a vaccine.
After a while the vet came in to talk to me about the exam. Haley is healthy, teeth are in great shape for her ten year old self, and she is only a tiny bit overweight.
Haley had yet to make an appearance. Then I heard a panicked scrabbling and huffing reverberating off the hallway.
“Oh, here she comes!” exclaimed the vet as Haley burst into the room, a cloud of black fur and nerves.
“She peed but also pooped just a little during her vaccine so I was cleaning her up,” the vet tech informed me, in the same breath reassuring me that it was fine and that her dog also does this. She typed something into the computer, I paid, and we were off.
I suspect that she added an additional note regarding the pooping. Another note in her permanent record.
Shoes On The Wrong Feet 
I’m sure there are worse things to have in your record, but I can’t think of any right now.
😉
My dog used to act a damned fool at the vet too. Every time I took him there was some new note about how he refused to use the “puppy do” area for a sample and decided it was perfectly acceptable to handle it in the precise place that would cause the most upheaval (he was prone to peeing in the back rooms of the vet office so someone would inevitably slip in it). But toward the end, when we took him and he needed oxygen (it’s a torture chamber that they keep them in!) he didn’t have a single “accident” even tough it’s designed that the should since they’re in there for so long. The second we sprung him (with the doc’s ok), he half ran to the door (slowed only by the fact my arm that was holding the leash was unfairly still attached to my body, peeing the whole way like it was his job, stopping at the door, looking at the very sweet doctor and pooping in the doorway. She laughed, he snorted a very annoyed goodbye, and a vet tech immediately slipped. For 18 lbs, he knew he had a permanent record as long as my leg 😂