Bonzer Words!: Inner Calmness
Dogs are just like many humans when it comes to taking medicine, as Gerda Aaberg reveals.
Gerda writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please do visit www.bonzer.org.au
It has been said that a person who can always be calm inside is on a winner. So, I have been practicing that for a little while now.
It came to a big test yesterday. It was time for our family's 3-monthly BIG DRAMA: Worm tablets for Scruffy and Boomer.
They are both fair-sized dogs, and because at one stage we had four dogs, there has always been competition at meal times. A now-deceased Alsatian, Annabel, was easy to give a worm tablet to—I simply stuck it down her throat as far as my hand could reach and never lost a finger. But Scruffy and Boomer? No, I don't trust either of them with my fingers. It has to do with how old they were when we got them. Otherwise they are our DARLING DOGS.
So, this is the routine: I cut two slices of their 'doggie sausage' and throw them to them in turn, pills inside. They love catching their food, and it gives a good sound, like a slam, when it hits their teeth. Scruffy is done in no time, pill and all; but Boomer, the sneaky thing, can detect the pill and spits it out. I go on hoping every time that I can fool him, but he fools me. Yesterday was the same. Food inside Boomer, pill on floor.
So, this was the next step: I took out the sandwich 'shaved chicken', took a bit off to put CRUSHED PILL inside it, but wait . . . what is happening? Blimey, Scruffy just took Boomer's pill from the floor. I scream, and he drops it further away. I go to pick it up, but now my daughter is screaming—Boomer is eating the big packet of her sandwich chicken pieces!
Suddenly I remember the 'Inner Calmness' thing and, amazingly, it works! I crushed the pill and put it into the remaining chicken, which I rolled into a ball and gave to the now swelling Boomer. 'That will fix you.' Boomer then proceeded to spit out smaller bits and pieces—all the bits with crushed worm tablet.
YOU HAVE GOT TO GIVE IT TO HIM, BUT HE IS VERY SMART!
I know there exist worm tablets that the dogs 'will sit and beg for', but even our vet is skeptical. This coming Monday I will give them a go.
How did I go with the calmness test? I will give myself 60 to 70 out of a 100. That is a big improvement from the year when I got bitten on the elbow, also in regard to worm tablets. (I should never kick out in the direction of an agitated Boomer, I have the scar to remind me. He has several obedience ribbons, and the fault was entirely mine—I lost my Inner Calmness).
©Gerda Aaberg
