Shots, shots, shots, shots!

Happy Friday, everyone! I (Hannah) know we went down to one newsletter a week because this is the “slow” time of year for mushing, but every time I think things are slowing down, they’re still hectic! We have several updates for you today!

Before we get started, please consider sharing the newsletter with one friend today who could really use some cute dog photos, because this edition has several of them!

In our newsletter a couple weeks ago, we talked about Boo’s first experience at a vet here in Indiana…and how it didn’t go so well. As the time has come around again this year for annual check-ups and vaccines for the dogs, we were not looking forward to it.

Last year at the vet, we were surprised at just how expensive everything was, especially for what we thought were easy, basic things. Vaccines for Boo alone were like $150, and he put up a huge fight about them.

Earlier this year, we had Pence spayed at a local low cost spay and neuter clinic. We did that mainly because it was $80 there versus $500 at the regular vet. Same procedure, so why pay more? Well, during that visit, we also learned they do vaccine clinics and saw their prices were much cheaper for vaccines as well.

Keeping that in mind the last few months, now that Boo was in need of annual vaccines, we opted to take him to the low cost vaccine clinic. I had a free afternoon and decided to take him. But because of what happened last year, I decided to give him a Trazodone (calming/anxiety medicine) prescribed from the vet to hopefully calm him down first. I gave it to him about an hour before we left for the clinic.

About 30 minutes after giving him the Trazodone, it started to kick in. I could tell he definitely felt weird and he knew it too. He was going back and forth between pacing around and sitting right on top of me.

When it was time to leave, I thought to myself, “might as well take Pence too.” She’s likely due for vaccines as well. We’ve had her almost a year and hadn’t taken her to get any yet. “I’ll just take them both by myself. How bad could it be?”

I might regret this later…

So I loaded up both dogs in my Jeep and went to the clinic. It’s a first-come-first-serve process. There were 22 people in line front of us and the clinic had only been open 4 minutes.

The waiting room was super crowded and people had already begun waiting outside. I opted to wait outside as well because I figured the dogs would prefer a less crowded space. It was hot outside, but at least we were on a bench in the shade with a water bowl. I was hoping to wait in the car with the AC on, but they said we had to be able to hear them call our names or we’d get skipped.

Unbelievably, Boo was cool as a cucumber! He basically just stood in one spot in front of the bench while we were waiting. At one point he even laid down for a few seconds. He didn’t mind any of the other people or other dogs. He actually even sniffed a few of them! Pence was somewhat interested too.

Boo was clearly under the influence. High as a kite. Just had a stoned look in his eyes and he had not a care in the world. This is the first time I’ve ever seen the Trazodone really work for him!

Pence on the other hand, was bat sh*t crazy. I didn’t give her any Trazodone because last time we were there, there weren’t many people or dogs and she did great with her blood draw and check up.

That was a major mistake on my part. She could not stand still. She was jumping and pulling at the end of her leash constantly. She was parkouring off of me, off of Boo, and off of the benches. At one point she was sitting completely on my lap for some reason.

Folks, this went on for TWO HOURS. Yep, had no idea the wait would be that long. And I thought Pence would eventually get tired and stop, but she didn’t. Thankfully, Boo was still chilling on his meds, so I didn’t have two chaotic dogs to deal with by myself.

We finally got called back for their vaccines. We weighed each dog. Boo was 47 pounds and Pence was 43 pounds. Ya…they’re like, all legs.

Two technicians came to take them into separate rooms to get their shots. I was so nervous for both of them at that point. About 30 seconds later, Pence comes back out. All done! Super quick!

Another 30 seconds or so later, Boo came back out. I hadn’t heard any fighting or screaming, so I was a bit confused. I thought maybe they needed me to come back and help hold him down or something.

NOPE. He was done too! I was like um, I hate to ask, but how did he do? The lady said he did great! I was like…what?? This dog?? The black one?? She said yep, he just stood there and didn’t even care. I was like WHAT?! I absolutely could not believe it.

Maybe between the meds and waiting outside for two hours around people and dogs, and in warmer weather, he was too tired to fight it much. Either way, it was a WIN.

I took the dogs out to the car in the air conditioning then went back in to pay. Boo got all his annual vaccines for just $40 total!!!! Pence’s was $55 total only because she was also due for her rabies shot. So much cheaper than the regular vet!

Lessons learned though: give Pence Trazodone next time too. Also, get there earlier or later to avoid the rush right when the doors open. Other than that, the techs were so great with the dogs, and it was a way better experience for Boo.

A few days later, it was time for Boo to go back to Beth’s house for a few weeks. When Beth and Boo were walking out to Beth’s car to leave, Pence stood at the door, whining. It was so sad! She’s never done that before!

We made sure to give her extra cuddles and let her sleep in the bed that night (and pretty much every night since 😉)

Since Boo has been gone, Pence seems to be a little more nervous on walks by herself. I mean, she’s always been kind of anxious on walks. But she kept jumping up on me like she wanted me to carry her. Riley did carry her once, right after we got her when a little dog scared her, and apparently it stuck in her mind as a possibility for whenever she gets scared lol.

When Riley was walking her recently, she stepped on a manhole cover and yelped a little bit. It wasn’t very hot, and we didn’t see anything sharp on the cover. All her paws looked fine. We moved all her joints and she didn’t react to any of it.

We’re kind of convinced now that she faked an injury to end her walk early and go back home because she was nervous… Either way, she’s fine now and we’re trying to help her be more relaxed on walks and enjoy the smells and sights more.

Both dogs will be going to the vet before the end of the month for their annual check-ups. This will be Pence’s first time at the actual vet. They’ll be going on separate days, which should be a little easier to handle for us humans. Stay tuned to see how those go!