Life's odd with Pat away. Though kids and I certainly notice it strongly, I don't know if Josie has a clue yet: she kinda takes things as they come. She is, after all, a puppy. She's also a puppy who's been taught from the very beginning to roll with the punches. The monks handle the pups, get them used to collars, cars, peoples' hands all over them, and to people coming and people going -- so the rest of the training and socialization is built on that strong foundation.
That all came in handy, not only for Pat's absence but for Josie's first real trip to the vet yesterday. She was poked, prodded, examined, injected. She had the test that us guys in our forties know too well -- the one involving a surgical glove and plenty of KY Jelly. And she was brilliantly stoic. The waiting room was another story -- twenty minutes in the present of cats in crates, a towering black great dane, and lots of new smells and sounds -- she was scared, and showed it. Anyway, she's all dosed up now on vaccines, flea liquid, a pill against worms, and some liquid in her nose that does I forget what.
And we try to keep the socialization thing going on, bringing people over to meet her and get licked. Today, e.g., I've got three students coming over to rehearse a bluegrass tune that we'll be performing at a talent show tomorrow night. Don't know if the monks ever did that!
Lizzie and I sat on the lawn yesterday afternoon, after Josie had forgotten all about the vet's waiting room, and trimmed her nails. A surprisingly pleasant experience. And today I had one of the most gratifying one-on-one sessions with her yet, on the kitchen floor, tossing a knotted rope and getting her to fetch it and gnaw with such enthusiasm that she was yelping in glee.
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