Cute Taenzer story

At noon today Taenzer brought me a houseshoe. Usually she waits until after dinner, but today she decided to do it at noon. So I took it and sent her back after the other one. She came back without it, so I sent her back again. She came back without it again, so I sent her back again. This time she came back with a tennis shoe.

I thought this was very cute because (a) she had to lean way over Timber's crate to get it and (b) I thought it was pretty smart matching--she couldn't find the houseshoe, but she selected the nearest thing to it she could find (as opposed to, say, a sock or my pajama top).

So I treated her and then went looking for my houseshoe, because I remembered taking them off when I got dressed in the morning--they should have been together. Couldn't find it. Looked under the bed--no houseshoe. Looked in the bathroom, looked in the kitchen. Couldn't find it.

It wasn't until I got back into the living room and sat down that I saw it peeking out from under one of the cushions she lays on beside the window. She's gotten into the habit of bringing one of them into the living room in the morning after I go to work, but it wasn't in plain sight, so I couldn't encourage her to find it, and she obviously didn't remember what she'd done with it.

It reminds me of her Great-aunt Stella. I always left my gloves or my sunglasses in the front seat if I had Stella with me and left her to go into a store or something. She would fetch it out of the front seat and just sit with it in the back seat. She never chewed on them or anything, just wanted to have something of mine with her, so since she never damaged anything, I always left something for her.

It's vet-going week--Timber tomorrow, Taenzer on Friday. They'll get their heartworm and parvo-adenovirus-distemper boosters. My vet and I have settled on a compromise about vacs--one year they get the booster for basic vacs only, one year they get a rabies booster, and one year we skip shots altogether. I want her to look at Timber's tummy while we're there--he licks one side so much he's licked most of the hair off and turned the skin dark, although there's no rash, and he doesn't lick himself raw, thank goodness. He cleared up a little bit between Christmas and the beginning of April (more or less), but since we've been out more, his allergies are starting to kick up. So we're practicing him lying down and lying on his side with me behind him. Easy to do at home--don't know if it will happen at the vet's office! He's a pretty good boy at the vet, though. He's been there more than Taenzer, and he's a laid-back kinda guy most of the time. Taenzer tries to climb in my lap and hide behind me when the vet tries to take blood or give a shot. I've got to remember to give her Rescue Remedy before we go--unlikely as it seems, it really does help keep her stress level at a manageable level.