Day 29 The Anatomy of a German Shepherd

My friend Karen's dog had been sick.  (Side note:  he is much better now, but at the time they weren't entirely sure what was wrong with him.)  He had a rash, which the vet had recently given him medicine for and that morning before I got up, he threw up.  Let's back up for a second and discuss the rash.  I've never had pets.  I've pet sat for relatives a couple of times.  Various friends and family members have pets, but aside from a few pet sitting gigs, the closest I've ever come to having a pet was when I was in grad school.  My roommate had fish.  So I haven't spent a lot of time around animals.  I have nothing against them (well, most of them, there have been a few suspicious characters over the years and my allergies do not enjoy cats), but I think because I did not grow up with them, I can get a bit nervous around them.  I think the animals sense that and do not always warm up to me right away.   Karen's dog didn't seem to love me at first, but later that night when she and Luke tried to put medicine on his rash, he was NOT happy and suddenly he came running to me for comfort.  It was like he was thinking, "I don't know this woman and I didn't love her when I first met her, but so far she's the only one in this house not putting painful cream on me so I'm running to her for protection.  She will save me."    Okay so I tell you all this to set the background for the day (and give some explanation for the title of this post).  Karen had called the vet and he called back a bit later and said to bring Wolfie (her dog) in for a check up.  So we headed to the vet and let's just say it was an experience.  Karen felt terrible about making me go to the vet on my vacation.  I assured her that it was fine.  I was there to see her, it was okay if we didn't do touristy things all day, plus I'd seen much of York on my last visit.  Wolfie got quite hyper at the vet and he was not happy when the vet tried to take his temperature.  I imagine if someone tried to take my temp by sticking a thermometer in my bottom, I would not be happy either so I can't blame him.  Eventually, the vet got what he needed and I saw more of a dog than I think I'd ever seen before.  Between the vet and Wolfie running around the office, I had a few close calls in my corner chair.  I think that was also my first time in a vet's office.  I was in a waiting room once, but first time in an exam room.  I'm not sure I'm in any rush to get a pet right now.  So back to Karen's house to drop off Wolfie and then we headed into York for some sightseeing.  We went to a cute museum, had lunch (fish and chips), and poked around a few shops.  Karen even bought me a book, which I look forward to reading soon.  She showed me a few more spots in York, then we stopped by to say hi to Luke at work, then went home.  We had a nice evening in with pizza, sides, some "famous" chocolates, and Love Actually.  Karen couldn't find the British movie she wanted to show me so we settled for Love Actually, which is one of my favorite movies so I was happy.  So I saw some fun places and learned more about dogs and dog illnesses.  It was a memorable day.  :-)

Inside the museum

One of the "famous" treats, it was pretty good.  (Don't worry, we all shared, I did not eat the whole thing.)