Poor Sophie Makes Three

We're getting ready to go to St. Louis for the weekend. Today I got most of my work done, but one of the office machines quit working. I'll finish it by hand tonight and take it in tomorrow morning. No problem, huh? That would normally be the case, but now there's another detail to take care of before we leave. I need to take Sophie to the boarding kennel.

I took her there this afternoon. She loves this place and has been attending there for years. They have chaperoned playtime several times a day, and you can watch online with their "doggiecam" (which operates only during daycamp hours). She has a blast.

We arrived amid a number of drop-offs and pick-ups. Sophie squealed and barked her delight. I knew it was going to be quick and easy because I had checked both at the kennel and at the vet to make sure she was current in all her innoculations. After she was taken back to her "dorm," they looked at their records and said she was due for her distemper shot. They verified with the vet that, yes, she was due. She had to come back out and be taken 25 minutes away to the vet for that shot and then returned. Great.

On her way back out to me, another dog was being brought in. They passed in the hallway—both on leashes—and had what the trainer called "an altercation." The other dog apparently really nailed Sophie with puncture wounds in her neck and ear. Now I really needed the vet.

The vet examined her and glued one puncture closed. The other wounds will have to close on their own. She got all of her shots, including painkiller and antibiotic, and they released her in my care with more meds. She's staying home tonight just to avoid more stress, and we'll see how she feels in the morning. This is when I wish I had family in the city to take my pet.

I trust the kennel to watch her carefully. These things happen when dogs meet dogs, and it's our first such occasion in the five years she's gone there. But the Sophmeister shakes her head every so often to try to make it feel better. My poor puppy.

(In case you're thinking "these things come in threes," Sophie's plight is number three. Abe is in CA visiting family before joining us in St. Louis. But most of his time so far has been spent with the dentist and endodontist. His toothache turned out to be a serious infection, and he spent his third day in CA getting a root canal. I'm counting the office mishap as number two, so we're good to go. I'm sure of it.)

Update: Sophie squealed and roorooed her happy bark a quarter mile from the kennel this morning. She was glad to be back! The staff there is so mortified about the whole incident that they practically rolled out a red carpet. They're good guys. So: we're off to St. Louis! Check out doggiecam during the day. I know I will.

Update II: I've been following Sophie's progress on the doggiecam. At first she stayed near the human chaperone when she was in the playroom, but today she was hanging with the gang and holding her own. We pick her up tomorrow morning.