Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Scott and Michelle called last night. They said that they took Brenna to the vet for annual vaccine in December, and the vet said she was 54 pounds and needs to loose a little weight. The vet recommended feeding three times a day instead of two, and feed 1/2 cup per day. Scott said so that's what they've been doing, 1/2 cup of dry plus a teaspoon of canned per meal.
They also said Brenna is playing very well with the new black Lab puppy across the street. The puppy is now 4 months old, but is already the same size as Brenna. They said the puppy has started playing a little rough, with play growl. At first the puppy's owner, Kim, was worried that the puppy was getting too rough, but Scott told her don't worry, if it becomes too much, Brenna would become submissive. Sure enough, he said, Brenna just lied down and that calmed the puppy down. This playing is great for Brenna, because she's becoming okay with play growls (before, she would consider them to be threats too and would react right in the middle of the play if the other dog play growled).
At this point, I heard some clicking sound on the phone. Scott said Brenna heard my voice and pawed the phone. He said Brenna still plays with the cardboard box in which I sent her Christmas present. He said she sniffs it often. Michelle said that she started physical therapy and her back is feeling better, and earlier this week she took a walk with Brenna and Scott. She also said that they went to get a new leash for Brenna, because the old one wore out. And I said, that's nice because that means Brenna gets to take lots of walks.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Scott and two of his colleagues came to the vet school to do a presentation on Wednesday, and we met for lunch. Scott said that he had to leave the house really early that day to get to Auburn on time, so he took Brenna out for her morning walk at 5:30 AM. He said Brenna was a little confused (because they usually walk a little later in the winter), but he put the fleece pajama on her because it was 28 degrees. He also said that sometimes he gives Brenna ice cubes to chew on to help keep herself entertained. But on Tuesday night, he saw Brenna picking up the ice cube from the floor, and dropped it in her water bowl! It's like she cleaned up after herself and did not even leave a water spot on the floor. He also said that sometimes Brenna would take out a toy and play, and then put the toy back into the toy box. We have no idea how she learned to do that, since none of us taught her to do it before. Scott said that earlier this week, Brenna got to run around in a pack. Millie's owner (Millie's the small shepard mix) let her off the chain and she came over, and one of their other neighbor's large male shepard mix also came over (I can't remember it was which one of the dogs he mentioned before), so all three were running around in the neighborhood and playing (with Scott directly supervising Brenna of course). He said Millie had gained some weight. I told him, "I hope she's not pregnant", and Scott said, "Oh I hadn't thought of that, but I think it's just from being chained up and not getting any exercise." When he took Brenna for a walk, the two dogs also followed them. He said the two shepard mixes went through a fence and got to chase the cows in the pasture, but he held Brenna back and did not let her go through the fence.
�Michelle, Brenna, and I are looking forward to the day we get to make that flight into the Auburn Airport! It was good to talk to that instructor there because I learned a lot of little things about how they normally fly in the area and that is important to know if you are not a "local". It improves the safety factor for me as a pilot to know those things. It will be a few months until I can afford to do it, as it will be about $300 to do in my Cessna. One day when I own my own plane (hopefully before years end, or next year) that cost will drop to around $30 in gas to make the same trip!!!�
�Well, a blast from Brenna's past made an appearance at our new house yesterday, a sight I never dreamed would happen again in my lifetime! Brenna's "brother" for a few weeks (more like her boyfriend!), Buddy (formally known as Briar), and Buddy's family were enroute to Florida from Ohio. Through previous communications John and Carol (Buddy's forever home parents) learned that we were only 5 miles off of Interstate 65 that they take during their trip and I asked if it would be possible to have a reunion, for us to see Buddy again since we had fostered him straight out of the pound. I'll let the attached pictures answer the question of whether they enjoyed seeing each other!!! It was like long lost best friends finally finding each other after decades (in dog years of course)!�
