01657: A Tale of Two Dogs

This is Mario, Prince's cute little labrador-chow puppy. He's suffering from a bit of a skin condition so I have to keep him isolated for treatment purposes. This involves a medicated shampoo to help with stop the annoyance, food supplements to help regrow his hair and vitamins to keep him strong. We're dog-sitting him until Prince comes back on Sunday, so for now he's both our guest and our patient, as generally discussed yesterday.

Because he's stuck in the cage, quality time is very important. Thus I try to devote some time just playing with him and cuddling with him so he doesn't feel all left out. And believe me, he's a rather needy, whiny dog. But I'm also monitoring his hair situation along and other things. Today I opted to clean his ears as well - I strongly suspect the possibility of ear mites given the level of wax production. All of these are the usual symptoms of getting a new dog in this country.

By now you should all know Yoshi, the actual dog resident here at the Sietch. He's not quite his chipper self since we've totally broken his routine. There's a new dog in his cage and we can't let him play with the new dog despite his obvious desire to do so. We had to move his food and water bowl to a completely different area, which I know is never good for a dog. So he tends to eat while we're out of sight - otherwise he's trying to be all sulky on the chair beside me. However the moment I reach out my hand he's immediately on his back, ready for a belly rub. I know when a dog is playing me and Yoshi is totally doing that right now.

But I can't get too upset - having a potential playmate in the house but being unable to play is a frustrating thing for a dog indeed. And Mario's not exactly happy either since he's itchy all over and stuck in a cage. And clearly he wants to be where all the action is, given how he only seems to whine when  people are in the area. Once I disappear into the bedroom, he's back to a more quiet state.

I really hope Mario gets well sooner rather than later. I was really looking forward to watching him and Yoshi play.