Pussy Woose Dogs, Pedicure Traumas and MIA Geese

With Central Park digging out from Irene, the geese still MIA and the outdoor pools closed yesterday, I decided to take my two dogs to the vet for their annual "pedicure." 

 

Tina and Chance don't actually need pedicures because their nails get worn down from their long daily walks.

 

However, the "dew claws" don't reach the ground and thus have tendency to grow very long and in worst case scenario, curl around the feet.

 

I have a professional nail clipper, but both dogs turn into total "pussy woosies" when I attempt to cut their dew claws.

 

So, it was off to the vet yesterday as I feared that Tina, my Corgi-Spitz mix,  might especially need to be put under anesthesia for the procedure. -- She is that much of a "chicken" when it comes to anything medical or even cosmetic.

 

It turns out that the two vet techs who did the nail trims didn't put my poor Tina under the sweet oblivion of anesthesia.

 

I and the three other people in the waiting room were thus treated to  ear-splitting shrieks emanating from one of the treatment rooms at the vet clinic:

 

"EHHHHH.........EHHHHHEAAAHHHHEEEEEEE.....EHEHHHH!!!"

 

Stunned and concerned looks on the other people's faces (as it sounded like a dog was being slaughtered), I offered meekly, "Oh, that must be my Tina.  She doesn't like getting her nails trimmed."

 

Tina was finally brought out, no worse for the horrible trauma she had just been put through.

 

"She doesn't seem to like pedicures," the vet tech offered with a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

 

"That's why I have to bring her here," I replied.  "She's very,,,er,,,huh.... sensitive about stuff like that."

 

The young woman then reluctantly brought Chance, my Pomeranian back for the dreaded procedure.

 

"Don't worry about him," I said reassuringly.  "I was actually able to cut one of his dew claws, but the other one is curled around his foot."

 

Chance was apparently a lot more cooperative, though the offending dew claw was far worse than Tina's.  No loud shrieks from him, though he was returned with a bandage on one of his feet, a very unhappy look on his face and a course of antibiotics.

 

Feeling guilty about the unimaginable horrors I had just put my two dogs through, I took them to Carl Shurtz Park for a walk in the grass and also to see if any geese might be lazing out in the park or swimming in the East River.

 

Not surprisingly however, there were no geese anywhere around Carl Shurtz Park or in the river.   I am not sure why the USDA has actually "surveyed" Carl Shurtz Park in the past for geese.  With the exception of seeing a couple of migratory geese in the river on one occasion, I have never seen geese in this location.

 

So, my search for the geese will still have to continue.....

 

Meanwhile, I brought my two dogs home and considered perhaps taking them to Central Park later in the evening.

 

But, both were totally worn out and spent from their nightmarish, traumatic day.

 

Without me even noticing, Chance had already successfully removed the bandage from his paw by the time we had made it home.

 

I should have known (and told the vet techs) that Chance is a dog who won't even tolerate a Santa hat on during Christmas.  The bandage didn't last ten minutes though that was at least nine minutes longer than the Santa hat.

 

I have always prided myself on having perhaps the two most "rugged" dogs in New York City.  Dogs who have no problem walking for miles in the snow,  rain storms, sub-freezing temperatures and even a blizzard. When younger (and allowed) Tina used to enthusiastically jump into lakes and swim!

 

But, try to trim a claw, put a hat (or GOD FORBID!) a coat on either one and both, Tina and Chance turn into the biggest pussie woosies on the planet!

 

In fact, I threatened Tina just a short while ago that I am considering changing her name to "Pussie Woose."

 

But, she looked at me with those big brown (and now, very tortured) eyes as if to say, "But, Mama, remember it was me who got you into the ducks and geese!"

 

And yes, it was indeed, the endless fascination for ducks and geese by Tina that introduced and drew me into the beautiful and intriguing world of our city park's waterfowl.  -- A world in which I find myself and my dogs now searching for the geese almost on a daily basis.

 

Well, as Scarlett O-Hara said, "Tomorrow is another day."

 

But, for today, Tina's name shall remain "Tina."

 

We shall just have to put the horrible pedicure trauma behind us -- at least for another year.  -- PCA

 

 

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