Day 53 - Chiro visit (Rising Sun Animal Wellness Center)

I slept better last night but was awake at 5:00 this morning. By 5:30 I figured we may as well get up, and unfortunately this is when I found out that my back was no better yet today. Jedi's crate is positioned immediately next to the bed, which makes it that much more difficult to get up when one cannot bend or otherwise move. Again, he was blessedly patient and waited for me to get through all of my contortions to finally open the crate door. Breakfast training was again done in the living room and pretty much just consisted of holding the jump bar.

Since we got up so early I had plenty of time to get ready to go into the office, so Jedi spent the morning in the crate (it's been a while since he's had to do that!). I got home shortly after noon, though, so it was a shorter day. He's got the Kong routine figured out, though, and runs to the crate when I start handing them out to everyone.

For lunch today we went outside and I sat next to the stick-in-the-ground pole. I didn't really have a plan -- I'd still like to see him offer circling around the pole (cik/cap in Silvia's world), but I figured I'd click for any interaction. He did lots of hugs/holds and offered the pee trick several times, which is pretty funny next to the pole. We didn't do any full circles, but he moved around the pole a good bit. I should try for circles again one of these days.

I had a meeting at 1:30, so play time had to wait until after that was finished. After the yard was cleaned up I figured using the Chuck-it would be the easiest on my back. It was still a bit of a reach down to get the balls, so I ended up just sitting on the ground after I did a couple of sends around the cone with Jedi. I'm blessed that he (and Secret & Luke) are so good about bringing the ball back within easy reach. I guess it would have been that or not playing at all today!

It was only in the mid-70s today and really quite lovely, but we did throw balls for a bit and it was long enough for Jedi to be certain he was going to melt away. I gather this by the dramatic flair he had when he flopped himself into the pool when we were done, and then by the blissed out look on his face as he lay completely emerged in the water. I tried to ignore the fact that there was bird poop everywhere as he plowed his head under the water. He didn't care, he was happy. There's no way I can dump the pool right now, so I guess I have to live with it.

I got super lucky by getting Secret in for a visit with her chiro vet today. I called this morning after much procrastination and was elated when they said they could squeeze us in this afternoon (I would have gone tomorrow if need be, but I prefer to have a day between adjustments and a trial). We left for Viroqua at 3:15, with Jedi still wet from his pool play and ready to crash for his afternoon nap. Jedi got to meet Dr. Marta a couple of days after he arrived, when he came to the last night of classes that Dr. Marta and Wisp were attending with me. I figured she would be happy to see him again.

I brought the bag-o-fun along and kept Jedi entertained as we waited in the exam room. This is one of Secret's favorite places to visit and she seemed a little disgusted that she had to share her time with Jedi, but she got over it once Dr. Marta came in to give her attention. I had to put the toy away to get Jedi to even acknowledge Dr. Marta or her assistant.

The toys had to come back out once they started working on Secret, because Jedi was a little too interested in helping out. The fuzzy octopus kept him occupied and out of the way. Once Dr. Marta finished up with Secret she asked if I wanted her to give Jedi a puppy adjustment to get him used to being handled this way (no charge). Well of course, yes please! He stood exceptionally well as she moved his hind legs and then worked her way up his back. It was nice to have this early introduction for him, since I'm sure he'll eventually beat up his body enough that he'll need an actual adjustment. With the way he fetches at this early age I can tell he's not going to be terribly careful about preserving himself.

Marta brought Wisp out to say hello before we left (Wisp is a border collie who will be a year old at the end of next month) -- I took Secret back out to the van first since she tends to be just awful to him. Jedi got to say hello, but I limited their interaction when I noticed that Wisp had some goopy eyes going on. Dr. Marta said she thinks it's allergies, but I'd prefer not to take any chances of it being conjunctivitis (pink eye). Jedi didn't care to be restrained back from Wisp and started barking, but as they were moved further away from each other he was able to settle back down. When we got home the neurotic side of me wiped Jedi down and cleaned off his face where he might have had any contact with Wisp. Yeah, if it really was pink eye I'm sure it's too late, but it made me feel better.

When I got home I absolutely had to mow the front yard. Everything needs mowing, but the back yard is going to have to wait. I opted to leave Jedi out of his crate for his first real experience of being left unattended in the house. I left the front door open (screen door closed/locked) in case he wanted to watch what I was doing, but I didn't really see him as I walked back and forth. When I came back in the house he popped his head over the top of the couch, so I'm going to guess he was just hanging out there the whole time.

For dinner we went outside and I managed to squat down enough to reward Jedi for slams on the teeter. It was nice to do something other than the pee trick and holding that we've been doing the last couple of days. I think Jedi agreed, as he was very excited to play on the teeter today. One of these days I suppose I could lower that thing and let him go all the way across. He's definitely got the side slams down.