Yesterday my husband and I took Simba and BeeGee into the shots clinic... BeeGee needed her rabies shots upped for another three years and I had no history on Simba (I did ask for it though)... While I'm a supporter of ALWAYS keeping shots up to date, I'm not so sure if I'm 100% behind the current protocols of the lifetime duration of rabies vaccinations, but maybe one day soon the Rabies Project will publish their findings and all of our animals will stop being over-vaccinated...
Regardless, I put a crate in the back seat of the car (just in case) but intended on taking Simba out in public on lead for this event... He handled the car ride without any anxiety and I think actually enjoyed looking out the window as we rode along... He sorta/kinda has a kinship for BeeGee, although she won't give him the time of day!... LOL...
Once at the store, we got in line and although he stood on my knee once, he wasn't anxious or scared... A Miniature Schnauzer got in line behind us and she was on overdrive - not happy at all about being in the store (?) or what was going on... Simba retained his cool and even my husband commented about how well he was taking all of this in...
We were probably in line for 20 minutes from arrival until we made it up to the table... And the entire time he was down on the floor... He was interested in what was going on, not put off by people arriving or the various amount of dog smells, etc... He stayed between my husband and I, and I could tell he was confident about his position, safety and role there... (I'm just SO proud of him! smile)...
No issues with the strangers at the table, nor being handled by the vet for the two shots... We have no history so we had to start from ground zero with this aspect of his health... Delayed the rabies until three weeks from now to make sure there were no reactions to all the rest of the vaccinations... And I watched him closely for a few hours to make sure he was OK...
This morning he once again delayed climbing out of bed with me at 3AM and about 20 minutes ago finally decided to not be a lazy bones about it... Came out and I let him outside to go potty... Surprisingly, he went up into the penthouse and then attempted to step onto my desk... I reached over and he didn't go into that 'hanging head' dog stance... Simba sat in my lap for a few minutes and I could tell he was cold, but he relaxed into one of those "I'm warm now and a contented puppy" states on my lap...
After he warmed up, I went and got a doggie bed and blankee, then sat him down on top of it on the futon after tucking in his blankee around him... A few minutes later, Frito came trotting out, went potty outside and came back in, looking at me... As a fluke, I lifted up the corner of the blankee covering Simba and put Frito inside there with him - the worst that could happen is that one of the two would leave... BOTH of them are curled in together asleep now...
These are the remarkable little 'angel-hiccups' that occur along this journey that just keep me awestruck about it all... It wasn't that long ago that the thought of another dog within 3' of Simba would put him into anxious, whining, nervous mode complete with air-snapping jaws... Granted, Frito is my 'go-to-guy' for every new dog or human... He just doesn't ever come across a dog or human that he doesn't love on the spot... But to look in underneath and see Simba and Frito curled up with each other (both boys, both Chihuahuas, etc.), it does warm my little pea-pickin' heart this mornin'!
