Just Notes

Jake's goopy eyes: Last summer Jake's eyes started being goopy--very goopy--every day. Took him to the vet, who said they looked slightly red and gave me some prescription goop to put into them a couple of times a day. I did for a week or two and saw no difference, so stopped. Yesterday killed two vet visits with one stone (does that metaphor work? Note to self--hmmm--) and took Jake for his annual checkup and shots (a few months late). Vet said his eyes were indeed reddish (if one pulls back the eyelid a bit and peers around behind there), so gave me some more-brutal antigoopyeye ointment to put into his eyes thrice daily. Two days later, and it already seems to me that his eyes have ceased to goop.

Jake with--oops--goopy eyes--enjoying a Bully Stick.

Bully Sticks are the gods' gift to dogs for chewing. Very popular amongst the canine set. A little pricey, sadly. But last time I was in AnJan's, they had 3-foot Bully Sticks for not much more than the price of 2 or 3 6" sticks, and I can cut them into 6 pieces with a hacksaw. (See standard bully sticks here.) (What is a bully stick anyway?)

Tika stir-crazy: So it's been 3 days with quite restricted activity. Yikes! Trying to do just tug-o-war, but she really puts her feet into that, too. Was doing some in the yard today--Casey loves to crash into her with his toy while we're doing that--and he hit her foot and she shrieked. Poor girl. Just gave all the dogs about an 8" bully stick--the thickest one for Tika--and Tika was done in a manner of minutes. Jake will be working on his for hours. Now Tika wants me to do something else fun. I want to go to bed. This is so working.

Find-it game: I don't remember whether I've ever done the find-it game with Casey before this last week. The rules are: Dogs sit-stay in one room. Mom hides a tiny Roundup-type dog goodie in the other room at or near floor level. One dog gets to go in and find it. Dog also gets a reward (another tiny goodie) from mom for finding it. Dogs really enjoy this. Gives brain and nose a workout. Casey started out looking for a goodie this week, but would search only for a couple of feet in front of me. So I had to put the goodies fairly close to me and also not too far from the previous goodie so he'd start getting the idea of ranging for it. Dogs and their noses are amazing. You'll often see the dog stop in his/her tracks, sniffing, back up a step, sniff all around, as he zooms in on the goodie behind the table leg. Casey's catching on. Quickly. Amazing how motivating food is.

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