A trip to the vet and other adventures.

America's funniest home video:  This one takes the cake.  Brillo was scratching his tail when I noticed him do a somersault, and then another, and then another.  I ran in and grabbed the camera in time to capture this portion of his monkey act.  HILARIOUS.

Well, it has been a few days since I blogged, and Brillo has had several adventures in that time.

First, I'd like to mention that he had his well-puppy visit to the veterinarian's.  He sees Dr. McKitteridge at Eastridge Veterinary in La Mesa.  He and his staff are AWESOME, including wife Theresa and assistant Becky.  Thanks for taking such good care of my little guy!  The doctor checked him over and explained some hazards we might find on the trails around here.  The biggest are the foxtails, which are little plant pods that can hook into the dog's coat, expecially between his toenails, and find their way up his nose.  They work their way up into the animal's insides and wreak havoc, often requiring surgery and sometimes leading to death!  Another hazard is rattlesnakes, but I know about those.  I've seen them while mtn biking.  What I didn't know is that there is a vaccine that helps in recovery from a bite.  We'll be getting one of those... This was Brillo's second visit to the vet.  The first one was when my mom was in town a couple of days after we brought him home from the breeder.  He had been scratching a lot because something in my grass had bitten him.  The dr. was kind enough to see him when we dropped in unexpectedly.  Brillo seems to be healing from those bites pretty well.  My mom and I sprayed the lawn for bugs, and I had Corky's Pest Control come and spray for fleas and spiders.

The vet trip was productive and informative, but it wasn't much fun for Brillo.  For fun and exercise, we have walked downtown almost every day, and it is pretty exciting.  We're trying to learn how to properly walk on a leash, but we're still not very good at "heel."  Brillo likes to tript me up and switch from the left to the right unexpectedly.  Sometimes he lags behind, and at other times runs ahead.  I'm tring to keep it fun while insisting he heel properly at my left leg.  Since he's not yet 10 weeks, I'll take it easy on him.  I just hope one day he'll decide to take it easy on me.  

Brillo isn't so sure he likes his new swimming pool...

Brillo got pretty hot on a couple of our walks, so I decided to buy him a swimming pool.  It's hard to find a good kiddie pool this time of year, and I couldn't locate a hard plastic one.  Instead, I bought a collapsible pool with a blowup edge.  I think it ought to do the trick.  The only problem is, Brillo is afraid of it.  I tried to coax him in by putting on my bathing suit and getting into the pool myself, but he wasn't falling for it.  I held him in my lap in about three inches of water, and he cried, so I let him escape.  I've no doubt he will learn to enoy the pool in his own time.  Right now, I have to be careful not to spook him.

One of the reasons Brillo isn't thrilled about his swimming pool is that he knows how silly he looks half-soaked.  He asks that you don't stare at his skinny legs.

    

Gillian holds the baby.  He can barely keep his little eyes open.

Wednesday evening, Brillo was invited to Gillian's for a garden party.  I brought his kennel, food, water, and some toys (his chicken is his favorite), and we drove out to Point Loma to play.  Brillo had a lot of fun exploring the yard, playing in the grass, and eating Gillian's parsley plant.  Later, after we had all eaten, he took a long nap on my lap, feet straight up in the air.  It was a lot of fun, and I know he is looking forward to our next visit with Auntie Gillian.

Awwww.  Poor little baby had too many margaritas and passed out.

Because he was so good at Gillian's, I decided he'd be ok accompanying me to Por Favor, a Mexican restaurant down the street in La Mesa Village.  Again, I brought his food and water, and I brought his little bed.  He did great walking over, and as per usual, we were stopped by everybody we passed along the way so they could admite him and enquire about his breed.  Because of that, we were about 20 minutes late meeting friends Sherri and Chris.  Oh well.  They server was very kind to allow Brillo to sit with us, and he had fun sleeping on my lap, again. 

Brillo is pretty proud of his new Republican neckerchief...

None of his admirers seemed to mind Brillo's display of partisanship.

Earlier in the day Friday, we walked through the La Mesa Farmer's Market.  Again, Brillo met dozens of new admirers.  I bought him a Republican scarf for his collar, in honor of the day's impending presidential debates, and he met an artist who wants to give him some bling for his collar.  We'll go visit her in a couple of weeks to visit her again and see if he'll wear it.  La Mesa residents/businesses are awesome!

Brillo is NOT a chow hound.  It's hard to get him to eat.  If I can get somebody to film us, I'll post a video of me spoon feeding him.  Yeah, that's right.  Admittedly, I spoon feed him.  It's often the only way he'll eat!  I use a gold plastic spoon from The Golden Spoon yogurt shop...Sick, aren't I?

We have just started some formal lessons, using food rewards as a motivator.  The problem is, Brillo is not very food motivated.  It did seem to work pretty well for a while, though, until he lost interest.  He is starting to get the hang of "come" and "sit."  Sort of.  In other news, he is still having a little trouble with peeing, although he hasn't peed in my house in about a week.  He has, however, peed in Handful of Wildflowers and Maxwell's House of Books, on more than one occassion.  Woops.  I hope to achieve better results in the next few weeks.

Until next time, the Brill Man will be here, patiently holding down the fort.