The front door was open, and the trolley of the Coles delivery truck sat empty just outside. The delivery man and the lady whose puppy I was about to vaccinate (yes, I do vaccinate puppies, I just don\’t re-vaccinate dogs unless they really need it, which is hardly ever) suddenly popped out.
\”I knew you were going to turn up at the same time,\” she smiled.
Before long we were settled inside. Her little boy was carrying the puppy around, happily, and it took quite a bit of persuasion to winkle the little fellow out of his grasp. The puppy was a joyful little wriggle on my lap, very small, a miniature foxie. I carefully checked him all over, and then went out to get the injection. We had to persuade her son to release the little fella once more after I came back in, and he watched with big eyes as I slipped the needle under the puppies skin. He yelped a bit, and the little boy\’s face crumpled up with worry.
\”It\’s ok, darling,\” his mum told him, with a hug. \”He need to have this needle to stop him getting sick.\”
I handed the puppy back to her son, and he walked off, chattering away to the puppy nineteen to the dozen.
\”He\’s been carrying that puppy everywhere,\” she told me. \”It\’s funny, he really listened to you teaching him how to carry the puppy on your last visit.\”
\”Yes, I noticed he\’s not being lugged around by his head any more,\” I smiled.
\”We had a birthday party for my son the other day, and you should have seen him teaching the other kids, and even the grown ups, the proper way to pick up the puppy. He was straight up to a couple of the mum\’s and dad\’s \’This is how you pick him up, the vet told me how to do it!\’ Really made me smile.\”
\”It\’s funny how they listen to someone else more than their parents like that, isn\’t it?\” I commented.
\”It is,\” She replied. \”He loves that puppy, it\’s feet seldom get a chance to hit the ground. I\’m having a bit of trouble with toilet training him though, because as soon as I put the puppy outside, he lets him straight back in again!\”
\”Having a timer might help,\” I suggested. \”Set it for 10 or 15 minutes when you put him out, and then your kids can see when he\’s allowed back in again. Also, during the day, so you don\’t forget, what with having two kids keeping you on your toes, set a timer to go off every two hours or so, so you put him out before he needs to go to the toilet, and does it on your floor.\”
\”Those are good ideas!\” she said. \”I\’ll try them out.\”