Living up to my nickname
I spent yesterday morning living up to my nickname. When I was a puppy my breeder called me Wild Wilma. To be fair, she still does. Mum says normally I’m not really wild as far as she is concerned, but yesterday morning I definitely was. It was my second laser treatment. Now, I have to be honest, I liked our vet in Yorkshire. The practice was small and friendly and I felt relaxed when I went. Ok, so it still used to take several people to hold me down for my Kennel Cough vaccination up my nose, but a girl shouldn’t have to go through things like that.
Our vet down here in Warwickshire is much bigger and I’m rarely the only dog in the waiting room. With being in pain, I get stressed around strange dogs as I feel vulnerable. Mum often lets me sit in the car until I’m called in which works well.
Where I’m having treatment
I really started living up to my nickname at the veterinary practice where I’m going for my laser treatment is huge. The waiting room is a very big open space with a lot of dogs and people milling around. Apart from that the car park is busy with dogs coming and going. Today I found it all a bit too much. Mum had planned to begin retraining me to be a calm dog while we waited. She took some treats and made me do lots of little tricks and training exercises while we waited in a queue of dogs to check in. I wasn’t doing too badly until another dog barked at me. Then I lost it. Mum couldn’t get any sense out of me so after checking in we went outside to calm down.
Walking around
We walked around until I said my stress levels were much better and then went to wait in front of the building to be called. I was doing fine until first of all two Bull Terriers came swaggering over and gave me a look. Then a German Shepherd shouted at me and I was back to being a stressed out wreck.
Fortunately when we went into the consulting room I breathed a sigh of relief. I gave the physio a hug, even though she was a different woman to the other day. I just liked her and thought I’d mention it.
Sitting still
I didn’t do quite so well at sitting still for the laser today. It felt odd and I wanted to see what was going on. Mum made me keeping focussing on her so I didn’t turn around. I licked her glasses in retaliation, but she cleaned them before driving home.
Then we had to walk back through the waiting room. I was living up to my nickname again. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to get back in the car.
Love
Wilma
© Rosemary J. Kind 2025 All site content is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without written permission
