A Changed Man

Well, Avi went through some changes this week. Poor boy. Let's start by clearing the air... I think I've been taking the surgery a lot harder than he has. But then again, he's got good pain killers.

So, Avi was neutered this week. He was so happy to visit the vet (see above). We've got a great vet with loving technicians and a very clean, well-kept facility. He seems to enjoy meeting the other animals sharing appointments during his visit and, of course, he never has the slightest clue as to why we're visiting.

We dropped him off in the morning, picked him up after school, and took Thursday off school to be home with him. The vet techs said he didn't bother his stitches during his entire visit, but we bought a "lamp shade" from them to be safe.

Well, wouldn't you know that he was itchy from having so much hair shaved and, consequently, was licking around his stitches. He had to wear the lamp shade as a precautionary measure but, as you can see from the photo above, he now looks more like a traveling party dish for chips and dip.

No worries. We only put the cone on when we cannot supervise him (such as when we leave for work or over night while we sleep). Still, it has made for some great photos!

No puppies for this pooch.

-Matthew

Fan of Snow, NOT of Ice

Yeah! At last... Maryland get some snow!

We got about 2 inches of snow in Ellicott City on Tuesday, followed without hesitation by about a quarter inch of ice on Wednesday.

Now, to be fair, Avi is quickly becoming a big fan of snow. Other Berner breeders warned us that Berners really "come to life" in the snow and they weren't kidding! He's absolutely hilarious! He jumps around, pouncing the flakes. He races back and forth with little care about being caked in the flaky snow. He tries to eat the snow before it lands on the ground (see picture above).

However, Wednesday was his first experience with ice and Avi was NOT a fan. He was perplexed by the way ice cracks under your feet only after your full weight is on it (this made finding a sure footing very strange for him). By Thursday morning, when the ice has had a chance to really harden, I was able to walk across the surface without it breaking. ...again, not such a good thing for a pup with no traction.

We managed just fine though and, in true Avi-spirit, his head darted down to lick at the ice whenever a new piece cracked at our feet.

Now all of the snow and ice is melting, but there's rumor we'll get more next week. I'm hoping to get some video of Avi's alter-ego, Crazy-Snow-Fan boy.

Until then...

-Matthew