Saturday, December 17, 2011

Shopping for Gozer

We took Gozer shopping while the house was cleaned today. There's a Ren's Pet Depot about a 15 or 20 minute walk away so we went there. While Gozer was fairly well-behaved most of the time, Ian had to take her out of the store a few times when her barking, lunging, leaping alter-ego showed up. One of these days we'd love it if she didn't bark at other dogs.

We ended up buying her two new coats. One is similar to the one she got when she left the Humane Society and the other is a fancy waterproof outer shell with a double-layered fleece detachable liner. The shell and liner can be worn together or separately so it's basically a 3-in-1 coat. It cost more than some coats we've bought for ourselves!

We also bought her some new toys: a Nylabone bone, a Nylabone ring, and a stuffed hippo. She hasn't shown any interest in the Nylabone products but that might be because she's so much more interested in the hippo. She took it right away and likes playing with it to make it squeak. She's also spent most of the evening asleep between my legs on the chair with the hippo in her mouth. You'd think her jaw would get sore but she seems quite content.

We also bought her some hypoallergenic shampoo. The red bumps on her belly are still there even though the antibiotics end tomorrow. She also scratches at her belly a lot and worries at her paws with her teeth so we think she might have sensitive skin. Of course we haven't given her a bath yet so her fur is a little dirty, which could be contributing to her itchiness.

We spent about an hour at the store and we have very few things to show for it. Making decisions is hard! Will she want this toy, or that one? This bone, or that one? This brand, or the other one? At the same time, it was kind of fun because we got to see her reaction to the toys and squeaks and we could try on the different coats. She wears different sizes depending on the brand so trying things on is important. I love that I can take her into the store with us (even if she does bark).

Shopping for Gozer is nearly as much fun as shopping for myself... and only slightly less expensive. Watching her carry around the stuffed hippo makes the adventure well worth the adventure.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dogs are my favourite creatures to shop for because they love everything.

Rashes like that (especially one that doesn't respond to antibiotics) can indicate food allergies. One of my dogs is on a lamb and rice diet because it turned out he was allergic to chicken and wheat.