Medical Alert

I'm writing this blog post instead of doing homework.
But that's ok.
Because it's a story worth telling.

Yesterday there was a blood drive at school. I made sure to get to school early so I could participate, because I knew that they would be gone by the time I was out of class. The plan was to get up at 6am, get a nice breakfast and shower, leave at 7am-ish and make it to school before 8am.

But it didn't quite happen exactly like that.

It was more like: slap my alarm 15 times, get up at 6:45, shovel food into my mouth, scramble to leave by 7:30, turn around 5 minutes later because I forgot something, and finally make it to school at 8:30. I had class at 9 so Novel and I booked it over to the bloodmobiles (conveniently located on the other side of our small community college campus) happy that there probably wouldn't be a line that early in the day, and hopeful that we would be able to get in and out before 9.

There was no line. They processed my info, took my blood pressure, etc. and in just a few minutes Novel and I were climbing into the bloodmobile to the (by this time very familiar) comments of "oh it's a doggy!" "He's so cute" "Can I pet him - or is he working?" "My sister-in-law would love him. She has labs" etc. etc. etc.

I had Novel climb onto the chair and lay in my lap while they collected my blood because of the very limited space in the isle way. He was awesome and laid still doing a "visit" the whole time. A few minutes later a Nurse came over to remove the needle.

 "Gurl, you don't waste no time do you?" she chirped.

And she was right...it had taken hardly any time. As we hurried back across campus to History class, I glanced at my phone. It was 8:52.

"Nice." I thought.

As my History professor began his lecture, Novel curled up in a little ball and went right to sleep. "Wow," I thought. "He's being unusually good today" He usually takes more time to settle.

My lower back was hurting me, making me terribly uncomfortable. I wasn't really worried about it because I had spent the entire weekend sitting in the car, and I knew I would be back to normal as soon as I had a chance to get active again. I had a change of clothes and was planning on heading to the gym after school. Still, the pain was getting worse, and coming of waves that made it almost impossible to concentrate on the lecture.

About half an hour into class, Novel suddenly got up and began licking my hands. Firmly. Persistently. He wouldn't stop and he would lay down when I asked him to. I thought that was strange. Novel loves to obey commands, and he doesn't usually lick me. Especially not like that. It was a little strange, but I wrote it off thinking that since that I wasn't feeling especially good, and he must have sensed that and was trying to comfort me.

And then, I was waking up from a very deep sleep, or maybe just beginning a bizarre dream, trying to open my eyes and trying to figure out what was going on. There was lots of noise. And dark shapes all around me. I was laying on the floor. Then I saw Novel's leash laying on the floor beside me and I grabbed it. "That's not good" my confused brain thought. "What if he got away while I wasn't holding his leash?" But then I realized that I hadn't needed to worry about that as my senses sorted themselves out enough to realize that there was a warm tongue washing my face vigorously. I sat up.

And then my ears started to work. "Katherine? Katherine? Are you ok? You passed out." I heard all around me. I couldn't help laughing. "Really? haha that's never happened before. That was weird." Everything was starting to clear up and make a lot more sense now. "Your dog was really worried about you!" I heard someone say.

 I immediately remembered Novel's persistent licking beforehand.

 "Haha, that was really weird" I said again, and I started to get up. Several hands shot out to stabilize me. That annoyed me. I was better now. All my senses were back and I wasn't confused anymore. Just amused. I wasn't gonna fall again. "I'm fine now" I said. "I'm really fine, I don't need help."

They didn't seem convinced and I was sent...ok, I was escorted...to the Nurse's office to eat some crackers, drink some Juice and have my blood pressure taken, which was normal. Of course, the whole thing was almost certainly a result of the blood I had given that morning, and combined with the pain in my back, I guess my body just decided to take a quick little break from life :) I still thought it was hilarious that I had passed out in class, but as I drank my juice, Novel rolled on the floor upside down, happy and crazy and completely un-service-dog-like and I didn't stop him.

"You knew, didn't you Buddy? You knew I was gonna pass out and you tried to tell me."

 He froze in an upside-down pretzel shape and looked up at me. His ears flopped out like bat wings on either side of his inverted head; his lips, driven by gravity, drooped toward the top of his head to reveal white fangs and the goofy, rounded incisors of a young dog, and his eyeballs, rolled up to look at me from such a bizarre angle, showed large white crescents of sclera. His expression was anything but serious.

I laughed. "Novel, I love you. Someday you are going to do some really great things." He flipped over and stared at me...or through me. And then he came over and put his head on my lap.

"I know mom. I've been trying to tell you that all along. And I love you too.
Hey, can I have some of those crackers?"

Electronic Commands

Just a minute ago, on a whim, I decided to see if Novel would obey commands from a computer generated voice. I have heard that it can be a difficult concept for dogs because it is a strange/unnatural voice, my mouth is not moving, and there is no other person around that could be giving the command. Basically, dogs don't always have a natural capacity to understand electronics....like we do...ha. or don't ;)

"C'mere Novel!" I called.
He got up from where he was playing with his "baby" (a large, fluffy, stuffed dog) and stepped over to me, looking up expectantly, and sniffing for a treat.
"let's try something, ok?" I said while pulling up Google Translate on my internet browser. I chose "English" as the target language, typed in "Novel Sit," and then pressed the audio button.

Nothing.

Novel looked at me and wagged his tail slightly. "I though you said we were gonna try something mom!"

I waited a few seconds, then said "Try again" (our Negative marker) and hit the play button again. To my utter surprise, he sat! We tried "Down" and "Stand" as well, and within one or two tries, he got each of them. Once he got them right once or twice, he was flying through these three commands with his usual zest without any mistakes. Then I typed in "Novel Speak" expecting to have to try a few times for this one as well, but he immediately let out a nice "woof!" without any hesitation! Admittedly, I am easily amused, but I was thrilled :)

So, I'm curious to know if this is actually as difficult for dogs as I thought it was because Novel definitely surprised me by not really having trouble with it at all. I tried it with Abbi too, and she had a little more trouble than Novel, but got it pretty quickly as well. Has anyone else tried this with their dogs? How did they handle it?

Supersonic Jog Dog

Ok not supersonic exactly - ultrasonic. Sister #3, who is in Dental Hygiene school, mentioned the other day that Novel's tail reminds her of an ultrasonic cleaner. Apparently there are two types of ultrasonic cleaner, one moves round and round in a circle ultrasonically, while the other simply vibrates back and forth. I guess Novel's tail is a Hybrid since it does both. :)

Sister 3 made this comment when Novel was at home and happy, but relatively calm. However, if you really want to see Novel's tail go ultrasonic, just try taking him jogging. Novel LOVES jogging! The idea of him running, but also me running beside him at the same time seems to blow his mind with happiness  Since Novel turned one in January, I have begun taking him jogging and trail running with me, slowly building up the difficulty for him because he really wasn't used to endurance running. It seems that every time I take him, he loves it more. I couldn't ask for a better jogging companion. He is perfect on the leash, distracted by nothing, and so beyond joyful that he literally bounces beside me when we're running. And of course, he is wonderful motivation to run more regularly. I am fairly positive that anyone who finds running boring or unpleasant would be quickly cured after a run with my adorable supersonic jog dog :)

                         

Happy as can be after a run :D

The day that Novel almost made me cry

Today Novel did something so shocking, so sweet and thoughtful, so true to his nature, and yet so downright astonishing, it nearly brought me to tears. But not quite. Today Novel proved to me that he is here for some great purpose, whether that is to be a service dog, or something else. Maybe I'm being overly sentimental, but today Novel reminded me of someone great. Someone that I loved oh so dearly.

For those of you who don't know, I once had a Golden Retriever. His registered name was Jedidiah's Golden Treasure, but we all knew him as Jed. He was my constant companion, fearless protector, compassionate comforter and best friend. People talk about having a heart dog, and he was without question mine. Tragically, he passed away from unexplained anaphylactic shock last April just after I got Novel. My heart was shattered almost beyond repair, but Novel wiggled his busy little puppy face inside and kept it from collapsing completely while I healed, and for that I will always be grateful.

Jed was so special in so many ways. Aside from being drop dead gorgeous, he had many little quirks that made him totally unique. Without question, my favorite one of these was his adorable, self-taught habit of retrieving eggs from the old, abandoned doghouse that our chickens love to lay in. It was always a chore to get down on hands and knees and crawl to the farthest corner to collect the eggs. The first time Jed did it, placing each egg carefully at my feet, I was floored. He continued to do it on his own, nearly every day, without ever breaking a single egg.

Today, Novel floored me. Three brown eggs. Two melted-chocolate eyes. One soft mouth dropping each egg carefully into my hand. He had found them on his own, and he went back to get each one with no more than a word of praise from me. The flood of memories that my sweet buddy brought back was priceless. I love you Novel!

Shopping spreeeeee!!!

Yeah. I know I really don't have the money. I'm a poor college student with two dogs and a cat to take care of after all! In my defense, everything I bought was at least practical....mostly....

ats me can ya tell?

1. Dog bed
 Novel really did need a new dog bed. When I first got him, I bought him a very cheap bed, hoping, but not really expecting it to last very long with such a young puppy. He chewed a nice large hole in his bed sometime in the first week or so. In an attempt to save myself from buying another bed only to have it destroyed as well, I simply took some scissors and chopped the hole-y part of the bed off and sewed it back up, making for a smaller, but still perfectly serviceable bed. He never chewed the bed again, but to be perfectly honest, it was only "perfectly serviceable" for another few months or so because after that he outgrew the shrunken bed. He didn't really seem to mind though, and just let his head and front legs flop off one side, and I didn't always notice that it was so small because it was in his kennel, and I "couldn't really see it." ...yeah that was an excuse for my procrastination. Anyway, when he vomited on it the other day, I figured I would save myself the trouble of washing it and just by him a new one. I found a very nice, large bed at petsmart for 20% off and it was a done deal. Novel seems very pleased with my purchase. The only thing about it is...it kinda got my money flowing....lol

2. Duck toy
Heh heh...this was actually my one of my professor's idea. I always bring a toy with Novel to school as a reward, and my professor informed me that he really should have a stuffed duck instead of a stuffed dog. After all, he is a Lab, and besides, carrying a stuffed dog around campus boarders on cannibalism. I couldn't argue much on that one. And so, despite the fact that Novel really does not need any more toys, he now has a stuffed duck.

3. Leather leash
Once again, not really a huge necessity....but hey, I had a 10$ off coupon, and leather is much kinder to my hands than nylon. Besides the fact that it's more classy.

4. Dog boots
On Monday Novel tore his pads up while playing on the tennis courts at school. Since we don't have a fenced yard, the off-leash exercise and training time is invaluable, and I'm not really ready to give it up. The boots will allow that to continue, help with keeping his injured paws clean so they can heal for now, help with the hot pavement that's coming up with summertime, and I will be able to use them for future dogs as well. At least that's how I justified it :)

Novel at the Nurse's station at school getting his paws fixed :)

5. Heartworm and Flea meds
Ok, so this doesn't quite fall under the category of "shopping spree" but I did happen to buy it on the same day as the rest. So it at least added to the feeling.

Everyone needs a little shopping spree once in a while right? I know I enjoyed mine :)