Friday, September 28, 2012

Vote for Zim!!!

I've just entered Zim into the Greenies Monster Cute Photo Contest. The links to vote for him (and the photos I entered) are below. Vote for Zim!!

http://apps.facebook.com/monstercute/showentry/1310914

http://apps.facebook.com/monstercute/showentry/1310892

Sunday, September 2, 2012

A General Update

First, pictures. We just took them this morning and they're just the cutest thing---like most pictures of Zim.



So, first thing we'll talk about is potty-training. Zim has been doing fantastic. He hasn't had an accident since the last time I posted that he had one, which means that we are one day short of a month accident free. I think he's actually potty-trained. Finally. God, I really sometimes thought we'd never do it but we're finally there. I'm so proud of the whole family---me, Fathead and, of course, my wonderful little Zim.

In other news, Zim had his 6-month check-up at the vet this past Friday and I'm really overall not happy with how it went and Fathead and I have decided we need to make some changes in light of it.

First, Zim has developed a fear of the vet. We were hoping that stuffing hot dogs and cheese into him would help but it only did so much. It kept him calm right up until he got onto the table, but even with those tasty treats on offer, getting up on the table still definitely freaked him out, even though he'd been calm (well, probably more expectant since he knew we had good treats) up until then. Then the poking and prodding happened and the most I could get him to do was lick a treat. Then they needed to put stuff in his eyes. He was fine for the first drop, but for the second he knew what was happening and he growled. It was then that things went to shit and that I really wish that Fathead and I had made better decisions.

First, they suggested a muzzle. I was not entirely comfortable with this, but I do think it was necessary for the eye drops. Even after a fair amount of conditioning, it's not his favorite thing when I clear his eyes. Having a stranger put cold drops in his eyes when he was at the scary vet was going to get someone bitten. 

What I didn't like, though, was when they suggested that we leave and they take him in back. We agreed and I really think it was the wrong decision. The entire time we were away, all I could think about was my baby and I immediate felt like I'd been a terrible parent for agreeing to let them take him back when I wasn't really comfortable with the suggestion in the first place. When they have him out of my sight I have no idea what's being done to him and I know he's past his threshold already because he wont take the very rare and absolute best treats ever of hot dog bits. I was scared they would traumatize and ruin my dog.

They didn't, but Fathead and I talked about it and we're going to proceed differently moving forward. 

First, we're going to try going into the vet whenever we go into PetSmart and do some counter-conditioning with him. They said that as long as we ask the receptionist we can even take him into the exam room to try and get him okay with being on the table.

Second, we're not going to let them take him in back again. Anything they can do to our dog they can do in front of us. It was an uncomfortable experience and we're not having it again.

Third, despite what it sounds like the vet wanted to do, he will not be muzzled regularly for visits. Yes, if he growls (or if we already know from experience that he will), he will get muzzled but only then and only for the purpose of whatever he's growling for. Zim is a sweet dog who loves everyone and his first reaction to something he doesn't like is to get away, not get aggressive. He's not generally aggressive at the vet, even if he is very scared (and he is). He doesn't need a muzzle 95% of the time that he's at the vet and I refuse to have my dog muzzled unnecessarily.

Lastly, we're going to watch when we schedule our vet visits. We've decided to make sure they're all with Dr. Pavlovsky, who Zim has never had a problem with and who we like a lot. Unlike the vet who was there at this last visit, Dr. Pavlovsky has never asked that Zim be taken in back even though he did once growl when someone tried to force his mouth open. Basically, I think we're going to have an easier time going with our plan of no muzzling unless necessary and no being taken in back. I also think he's less eager to push unnecessary tests which is an unrelated bonus. Honestly, if he were to open up his own private practice while we were still in Champaign, we would follow him to his new practice. I'd been thinking earlier that we should be trying to make sure we only see Dr. Pavlovsky and this latest vet visit has solidified it.

And now, to end this post on a happier note, Zim has gotten huge---by which I mean he has apparently grown 2.1 lbs in the past month, because he weighed in at 16.4 lbs at the vet. I was absolutely amazed. I mean, I suppose he has been looking a lot less tiny next to the other dogs at the dog park but I had no idea he'd grown so much. Honestly, since he'd been static at about 14.3ish lbs for the last 2 months before this visit I'd figured he'd probably stopped growing. I mean, I figured he might get another growth spurt around nine months, but I honestly didn't really think he would. Well, he's 2 days from nine months old and here he's grown 2 lbs. I mean, he's still a slight, skinny little thing but he's definitely bigger.