Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other

 Yesterday, I went to Dr. Ford's to get my teeth cleaned.  I hadn't been in two puppies.  HRH Berkeley was the last puppy I took and I am not sure whether it was because I was so traumatized or because life just got in the way.  I do remember that HRH would NOT sit still and did NOT like the sound of the drill, so Dr. Ford's wife ended up babysitting her out of coat at the front desk.

Berkeley loved this as she was a great people person and has royalty, expected to be catered to as her due.  Since Mrs. Ford loved all dogs and labs more than most, this worked out exceptionally well.

Today, I brought Coach.

Coach is staring past the camera as Heather looks on with a smile.

Heather was my amazing dental hygienist and she was a dog lover as well.  I remembered only after walking into the room that there would be no place to anchor Coach.  Ah.  

Coach and Heather with a bit of the dental chair.
You can now see that Coach is intent on something beyond the camera.

Well, there was a bit of a new procedure.  Coach was wandering around and not being the best mannered boy. Sit was taking 4 good boys (those internal "one good boy, two good boy" counting mechanisms you use before you correct your puppy) before he noticed I had spoken.  But he was still just walking back and forth by the chair, so I was ok with letting him have this bit of waywardness to calm down.  I was a bit nervous too.  It was the dentist.  I was getting my teeth cleaned and I did have Coach with me.

They took my blood pressure.  149/110.  "That's a little high," she said.  

"Yeah," I looked over at Coach.  "He does that to me.  We should take it again near the end of the visit.  I'm usually about 120 over 90 or 80."

When she started to clean my teeth, Coach found a comfortable spot and went to sleep.  Just like he does at the restaurant.  YES!  It was great.  No jumping, no looking for gum.  Just sleeping.  I got through the entire cleaning appointment.

Coach stares into the garden area and spots a lizard.

 And then the bad thing happens.  Coach wakes up.  He wakes up and we are waiting for wonderful Dr. Ford to come in and tell me about my lovely teeth.  All this time Coach has been facing South.  North is the window and the small garden.  The garden with a fence that is covered with lizards.  

On occasion, Coach has chased a lizard.  When we have gone on a walk, he has lunged for a lizard, but I have corrected him and brought him back.  In some cases, I have spotted the lizard and we have done a right about.  We have always been able to distract him the lizards.  

Not today.  Coach was obsessed.  He made such a loud noise with his nails on the lovely bamboo flooring that the receptionist came in to see what was going on. 

"Lizards." I said to her when she poked her head in.  

"Ah."  She nodded.

Heather seemed a little taken aback by his, what shall I call it, enthusiasm.  I suppose if I was thinking clearly, I would have had him do puppy situps, but I wasn't.  I was in a Dentist's office and I didn't think about that.  That would have been a great solution, Cheryl!

But no.  When Dr. Ford came in, I just held on to the bucking, lunging Coach as Dr. Ford tried to look at my mouth.  Yes, he did try.  It was only moderately successful.

Dr. Ford with crazy Coach.

 Fortunately, he is a very sweet man, who loves, loves, loves labs.

We also went to the post office and Coach did sit-ups and down stays with perfection.

Coach sitting near the Post Office Thank You sign.

Of course, by the time we got home, I looked over at Coach and saw this face.

Coach with his hang dog expression on.

It made me think that perhaps he felt bad about being such a butthead at the Dr. Ford's.  That perhaps if we went again he would be a good boy and sleep through the ENTIRE appointment.

Then again, perhaps he is only sorry he didn't catch a lizard.