So cool! Resolution. I could not stand it that Baker had to wait until the middle of February to have his tooth fixed - it became infected, the pulp was exposed, and he had to go on antibiotics. I was able to get him an appointment with a Veterinary dentist in St. Louis and we went a week ago Monday.
Poor guy had to be anesthetized to have X-rays and evaluated to determine whether the molar was removed or got a root canal. His treatment took all day, ending up with his tooth remaining and my shelving the notion of replacing my kitchen floor! Miss Ailsa was less than pleased to have her house brother away for the day. To ad insult to injury, while she was enthusiastic when he came home, he was in a foul mood having had a nerve block and not willing to play. She was smart enough to read his obvious lip lifts and barked her displeasure from the safety of the coffee table.
By Tuesday morning, though, he was ready to play. For her part, Ailsa was not sure that he really was telling the truth given his demeanor of the night before - it only took a few major play bow invitations for them to start rip-roaring around the house. She was delighted. The chase involved the all-too-famous dog doors, up and down the stairs to the basement, around the yard, and then a big Springer tussle on the floor trying to snatch each other's ears and paws until they were exhausted. While there was no Dog school on Tuesday evening both dogs played again in the back yard; Wednesday brought a good training session and Thursday was a second chance to rip and roar in the snow while we prepared the building for the IABCA show. Finally on Friday, it was my turn to play with Baker. We finally got to play agility games in Lake St. Louis - the first competition since the start of December.
We had a blast - too bad he has a less than super handler - during the Standard run he popped out of the 8th weave pole and apparently I directed him back into the 9th pole so he ended up weaving 11, rather than 12 poles (oops). He did not know that we failed - He was a happy springy boy who then whipped through the FAST class - not only did he qualify, he placed first in his class winning a stuffed toy for his house sister, Ailsa. The drive back to Columbia was a delight - he snoozed (snored) contentedly in his crate while I drove into the sun set - his blue & green ribbons hung from the rearview mirror - both of us enjoying having had the opportunity to play together with him not having a painful mouth and me thinking of his happy, bouncy, self.
Ginger
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