Trip to the vet for the first time

[Bill]

Well today was the first trip to the vet for a checkup for the pup.
It was kind of exciting for Molly. The vet has a English bull terrier that is there to socialize the new dogs. So Molly attacked Zolie. ;D Zolie socialized her and Molly hid under my chair till the vet was ready for her. ;D This was good as Molly thinks that she can do what she likes. She found out she couldn't.

She got all her boosters and was checked over from end to end and given a clean bill of health. NO WORMS Vet said she was just a very active dog and that I should up her food intake due to this. Sure made me feel better. He asked if she was getting exercised and I told him how much and he said if I kept it up she would never be a fat dog. Told him If I kept it up neither would I.

After we got done I took her out for her socializing walk down to the town pond. Kids everywhere. Ducks everywhere. Geese everywhere. Lawnmowers everwhere. Plus a mile long walking path. She got petted, ate duck and goose $hit. Grrrr learned how to walk on her back legs trying to drag me to the next kid or new thing to see. ;D

What really amazed me is her LOVE of water. There is a stream comming out of the pond about 2" wide and 10"s deep. It had 4 inches of mud on the bottom. Didn't bother her a bit. She galloped up and down the stream as far as the leash would let her go. Jumped up and down in it spashing it everywhere. Then we went up to the pond where again she jumped right in. Wanted to swim over to the ducks and geese but I was a bit reluctant to let her off the leash. So we got out and shook off all over ME. Oh well, I better get used to a bit of that. I'm going to have to train her to shake off a bit further away from me or I will be

By the time we got home the shots the vet gave her took their tole and like he said, "Might make her a bit sleepy" Yup she is sleeping out on the front porch.

So all in all we had a pretty exciting day. Even seen squirrels. Were healthy and active and doing good.

[jimh]

Bill, i know you, donnie and the others are real vets with labs but i have to state i am still amazed at the natural instinctive love for the water that the labs have as puppies. of all the stuff my sons and i went through with our dog as she has grown, nothing comes close to the entertainment we got the first time we took her to water. you would have thought she was in the superbowl the way the midgets cheered her on. well untill she started to interupt their fishing anyway.

[Bill]

;D I know what you mean Jimh. My uncle had a lab that we took hunting its first year. Now his idea of training them was to let instinct take over and just do what came naturally and to a certain point it did. But DXMMIT every time I put out the deeks it would go out and retrive them. I would holler and holler at her for it but she just kept doing it. When your carrying a bag of deeks and are in chest deep water thats flowing about 7MPH its a real SOB to correct a dog. Until my uncle got ahold of her finally the pile of deeks onshore was getting bigger than the pile in the bag and all the lines and anchors were all twisted up and a total mess. Took almost another hr to get the mess straightened out.

[Bill]

Guys I got to tell you. Today was one of the most awsome days I have had with the pup.
After she ran up and down in the stream and got all muddy I took her home and the wife demanded she have a bath as she smelled like pond scum big time ;D I didn't care. I was proud of her.
Well after her shots and all the new stuff she seen she slept most of the rest of the afternoon.

Then tonight I took her to the sporting clays range. That was awsome. She kept looking towards the shots for a while then just started ignoring them. Then a group of ladies came by and all had to stop and play with her before them moved on to the next station. I thought Man what an opurtunity. I followed them as that is also what she wanted to do. We stopped about 100' away and I had her set. She watched the first woman shoot. Then I moved her closer. She watched the second woman shoot. So then I moved her closer again. She watched the last two shoot and on the very last one she lay down and watched. Didn't even act like anything new as happening.
Yup I'm pretty proud of her right not. She also got a compliment for all the ladies. Seems they also had just got pups this spring and everyone of them said "Boy, I wished my pup minded that well ! " ;D

[Jack]

That's great, Bill.

[Bill]

I forgot to add, when I got Molly she weighed in at about 10 1/2 lb's. When the vet weighed her on her visit she weighed in at 23 lbs. Thats more than doubling her weight in 8 weeks.