Friday, August 26, 2016

Bad dog owner

I got my dog (an airedale terrier) specifically because it is supposed to be  a good breed for running and I want to run with a dog again. I then checked the internet which said you really shouldn't run with a dog until they are done growing, at least a year. So, I checked with the trainer, who checked with her vet. He said that is really only for like long distance or very fast running, which most certainly doesn't apply here, but that if I wanted to be cautious I could wait until he was nine months old.

I then checked with my regular vet, who I love. She also expressed some hesitation about the whole thing, saying that there really isn't any hard knowledge about this, and she really didn't see how I could harm him by exercising with him, but that if I wanted to be safe I could wait until he was nine months old.

Well, so I took him running for the first time at six months old and then we didn't go again for three weeks or so, and now he's seven months old. I've taken him running maybe three or four times total. Today we happen to have run four miles, which I admit is a lot, but the damn dog was driving me crazy, HE HAS SOME ENERGY is all I'm saying.

Anyway, so we have been going through this thing with his heart worm medicine, where there is apparently a different dose for under 50 pounds and it goes up after 50 pounds. When we got the dog he was about 44 pounds, so they have been giving me one month of heart worm medicine at a time, because we know at some point he will go over 50 pounds. So, we go out for our run and afterwards, I remember he is due for his heart worm. So, I take him to the vet without an appt. because we just need a weight and a damn heart worm drug, he has already had all the testing, this is no big deal. And that wasn't a big deal. He is now 52 pounds, so I got a six month supply so I don't have to go through this again. But at some point when I'm chatting with the vet assistant she mentioned how energetic he was (he was, he was making an ass of himself), and I said yeah, and this is after a four mile run, it's hard to wear him out! So, they bring me the heart worm medicine and I ask another question about how much to be feeding him given his weight now and that he is still growing. She goes back to ask the vet, and then the vet comes out, a vet I had never seen before, and she says you are feeding him fine, but I need to talk to you about his activity.

She proceeds to lecture me about how I shouldn't be running with him until he is a year old (which contradicts my regular vet's advice, a vet in the same practice) and to stop running with him. I protested that we don't run fast and I only run with him perhaps once a week, and she was like "you can walk him as much as you want, but no running."

So, I've posted to Facebook because I have a couple of friends on there who are real dog people. We'll see what they say. Whatever. I don't even know that vet, and I'm also irritated that the bitch vet assistance felt the need to tattle on me.

The dog did fine, just by the way. He was barely even tired.

So, I realized after I left that I was so flustered with the lecturing vet that I left the place without paying for the heart worm medicine. Oh well. Serves them right. I'm not calling or going back in either, they can just call me and have an awkward conversation.

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