The Gizmo Saga Continues

I was hoping by today Gizmo would be healed and truly bright eyed for the first time in his life. Unfortunately, he's an imp and has caused his own problems with evasive eye rubbing.

He managed to escape his cone and rub his right eye raw. By Tuesday the eye look angry and infected with green pus oozing and sticking to his fur. I called the eye care clinic and they told me to take Gizmo to my vet and get his eye flourescent stained to see if he'd scratched the cornea or was developing an ulcer.

Frustrated and slightly panicked I drove Gizmo to Niagara Falls on Tuesday and our wonderful vet Rachel stained the eye, calmed the Gizmo and advised me the problem with my dog was that he was pathetic.

He hates wearing the cone and looks like someone just stole his truck, ran over his best friend and then took all the kibble when they left. Rachel hugged and gently kissed the head of my chocolate mess and handed him back to me with orders for extra cuddles and loving.

On Tuesday nights we attended Puppy School with Taz and tonight a tag along Gizmo. Taz was fantastic and learned to lay down quickly and with ease. She was mocking us by laying down before we asked and then stared at us like we were incredibly slow witted.

The instructor usually gives a talk and a demonstration before we begin training. Taz lays on the floor and intently listens before performing the acts with little help from us. Judith, our animal behavourist, stopped and praised us for being wonderful dog trainers, but we could only laugh and thank her. Taz would have driven herself to the class, listened, learned and then came home to teach us.

Gizmo was initially fearful, but then got into the spirit of things when the training cookies were brought out. The cone no longer caused paralysis when faced with prospects of a liver treat. Although, he was not the smartest puppy in the world, he did manage to run and find the cookie. It worked well because we were learning to come when called.

I was off to to work at ten and left Brent in charge of Gizmo. He managed to get most of the eye drops in the eyes, but Gizmo would not go out to pee. In the cone he sits on the floor and cries. The sound starts off soft like the sad coo of a mourning dove, but escalates to the loud frightened sounds that come from stepping on a duck or giving a gentle kick to a large pig.

After fifteen minutes on the phone I finally had Brent remove the cone, so Gizmo could pee, drink and eat before bed. The pair were exhausted, but full of food and water and finally able to pass out in a pile of human and puppy parts.

I came home from work and Gizmo's face is covered in misplaced eye drops, but he's wearing the cone and is fast asleep.

After my post-night shift morning nap I was laying in bed petting the little guy when he laid on his side and used the cone to rub his right eye. Somedays, there's just no winning.

In a moment of weakness and a serious lack of concern for fashion I shaved off Gizmo's lovely long ears. The hair kept going in his eyes and the constant weeping was getting all over his face, chin, neck and ears. I shaved it all. All.

He looks adorable and he's happy. Jump up and down, feed me more cookies, I promise not to rub my eye happy. He's out in the backyard eating dirt as we speak.