Little Bridges Toward Success

When I picked Cabana up from the GDB kennels yesterday, I was told they had treated Cabana for ear infections in both ears. I was so surprised because I check her ears fairly regularly--and just a day or two before I brought Cabana into the kennels, I had marvelled to myself how clean her ears looked. Shows how much I know. Of course, she might have contracted the ear infections after she arrived there, who's to say.

They also upped her food to 2 cups, twice a day--hooray! I'm so pleased that Cabana can eat a little more. Like most Labs, nothing makes her happier than eating.

Cabana also came home with a bad case of diarrhea, which made itself plain just before our puppy meeting last night. Then, at puppy group, Cabana kept whining and whining. I thought she had picked up a bad habit while in the kennels (the dogs can be pretty loud there), so I corrected her (repeatedly) during the meeting to try to get her to stop. Then, she gave me "the stare"--and all of the sudden, I realized her whining was to let me know she needed to go out! And sure enough, I took her outside, and she had another bout of diarrhea. I felt AWFUL for correcting her when she had been doing the right thing all along! Poor thing!

This morning, though, the diarrhea seems to have cleared up. And we went for our usual morning walk. For the first 10 minutes of our walk, Cabana PULLED like the dickens. I felt like we were starting at ground zero. She has never been a perfect walker, and we still struggle with distractions--but today it seemed extra bad. Then, after a few well-timed (albeit non-protocol) pieces of kibble, Cabana walked better than she ever has before. A beautiful loose leash, no shenanigans--it was heavenly!



Toward the end of our route, I stopped to take these photos on a little bridge we cross. I removed her head collar for the photos--but then, I was able to leave it off for the remainder of our walk. I figured if Cabana got too pull-y, I would put it back on--but I didn't need to! Don't know how things will be tomorrow--but I'll take that little step toward success today!