Gozer and my stomach

My stomach has settled back down and I'm not feeling nauseous anymore. I'm wondering if the nausea and tummy problems were related to our Brita water. We buy the big 18.9L (5Gal) jugs of water for drinking but it's expensive so we use Brita-filtered water for coffee, my morning oatmeal, and other cooking as well as when we run out of the bottled water.

We noticed this past week that the bottom of the Brita jug was green with what appeared to be algae. I didn't know that algae could grow in a Brita jug but a quick showed that algae can definitely grow there, especially if the jug isn't washed regularly and sits in the sunlight. We don't wash the jug as often as we should and it does get to sit in the sun from time to time . We're not the greatest housekeepers, although I foresee us cleaning the Brita jug out more often from now on.

I don't know if algae in the Brita jug gets poured into the water or if it can cause tummy troubles in people with sensitive tummies like mine but I haven't had problems since we cleaned out the jug. Coincidence? Maybe... and maybe not. If the nausea comes back then I'll know it wasn't the algae, right?

Yesterday I took Gozer to the vet's for her final behaviour modification appointment. She's done so well at that program: she doesn't show any signs of separation anxiety when she's left alone and she doesn't bark nearly as often. She's off the Reconcile (doggy Prozac) and we've seen a noticeable difference in her behaviour: she's much more rambunctious, excited, and bossier. She barks (ar-roo-roo-roo-roo-roo) when she wants something which she never did before. Her character is more obvious and now that we see it, we're happy that she was on the medication. It calmed her enough so that she could take in the training and get over the anxieties she felt. She is such a happy dog now.

After we left the vet's office, I'd planned to take her for one of our regular walks. She had other ideas: when she wants to go a different way, she plants her little feets down and pulls away from the leash. While I can do a few leash pops and force her to go into another direction if I wanted, I allowed her to decide which way we went. We ended up at Ren's Pet store for reasons unknown. When we left she had wanted to walk along another path but I decided that we were going home.

Several times this week Gozer has led me to the vet's office so that she could have a visit with the staff. Gozer was even happy to see the groomer when no one else was there! This seems kind of crazy, doesn't it? I spoke with the vet and she said that they encourage their animal patients to stop by for a visit so that the animals see the office as a good, happy place instead of a scary one. The staff are more than happy to give the animals a bit of attention and a treat if they're not busy. If they are busy, Gozer has a chance to meet other animals which is a very good thing.

I'm lucky that my tummy is better so that I can go on these crazy long Gozer-directed walks. She definitely enjoys the time and I like being able to spend that kind of quality time with her.