Poisoning Petey

This morning John thought that maybe we had poisoned Petey. It is Petey's worst nightmare. He is very, very careful about what goes in his mouth and now the two people he trusted the most (and that isn't much) just might have done the deed.

How in the world did such a thing happen? Remember the flood in Nashville back in early May? It resulted, of all things, in water restriction for about a month. One of the ways we conserved water in our house was to plug the tub when we took our quick, quick showers and use that water later to flush the toilets. It was a nice civic minded thing to do, but I would not recommend it under normal circumstances. John & I believe that the soap or something else in used shower water caused horrible water rings in both toilets. We have scrubbed and scrubbed yet they won't go away, at least not entirely. John thought maybe if we scrubbed them one more time and then put one of those tablets in the tank that continually cleans perhaps they would go away. So, I picked up two while I was out yesterday. Neither one of us considered Petey in this decision. Our big mistake.

This morning when we got up Petey was all lethargic, clingy and whiny. We couldn't figure out what was going on with him. He even turned his nose up at his beloved bacon treats. Needless to say we were concerned, but even a casual reader of this blog knows that Petey is the drama dog of all drama dogs. The most common reason for Petey's discomfort is a crick in his neck. His posture generally indicated that as well. We tried to make him comfortable and left for church. We got in big trouble for that. We got a barking like we haven't got in a long time.

We were discussing Petey's very serious condition on the way to church, when John suddenly remembered that each of us had caught Petey drinking out of the toilet two or three weeks ago. This had never been a problem before. In fact, the first time I heard Petey drinking from the toilet I couldn't figure out what the noise was. I thought perhaps something in the toilet had broken. I went into the bathroom to investigate this unusual plumbing malady and discovered Petey on his hind legs, getting a nice long drink. He quit as soon as he was busted. I caught him again a day or two later. When I mentioned it to John he said he'd caught him a couple of times to so we set out to break him of it before it became a habit.

Petey responds very well to our words. If we seem upset, it is very distressing to him. Once he figures out what is upsetting us, he'll stop. We thought we'd broke him fairly quickly and easily. Petey is smart and we are diligent. But, all through church I had to wonder what we'd find when we came home. I didn't know if you could induce vomiting on a dog, or even how. Should vomiting be induced in this situation? Would it do more harm coming back up? Had it been in his system too long?

Petey met us at the back door as eagerly as he usually does as if there had never been a problem. Since then, he's been a little draggy and hasn't wanted to shake his head much. We're back to our original diagnosis of a crick in the neck. He probably slept wrong somehow. He's also back to wolfing down the treats. John & I have closed the toilet lids too, just in case...

Petey, The Protector - NOT

So, Friday night Petey and I were headed to bed, one of our favorite activities. The light in the hall and bedroom were both off, but that doesn't usually matter. All we had to do was keep walking straight and we'd get to the bedroom and the light switch. Petey was leading the way like he usually does, when suddenly he seemed to stumble. I stopped to see what happened when a cricket jumped on my leg, so I screamed. It was more of a scream from startle than fear, but a scream nonetheless. John hurried to us to see what the problem was, but by then I realized that we were all safe. And that Petey's stumble was probably him trying to catch the cricket. By this time, maybe 2 seconds had passed. I turned to Petey to say we were OK and he was no where to be seen!! I called a couple of times but he didn't come. I decided he'd already gotten in the bed realizing that we were not in danger. He was not in the bed. He was in his box. His box is his ultimate safe place. Not only was he in his box, he was all the way back in his box and he was not coming out.

To give Petey the benefit of the doubt, he does not like loud noises so perhaps the scream upset him more than the cricket. We'll never know. We do know that he saved himself first. Alas...all the dreams we had for Petey to surpass Lassie in bravery have been dashed.