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"what doesn't bend breaks."- ani d

i have been listening to a lot of ani d lately. i am sad that i was unable to attend her free concert at niagara square on july 4th...blah. i think it's really kewl that a super talented woman musician came out of buffalo. amazing...but then again everyone comes from somewhere...

tonight at work a doctor and i almost got bitten. i was restraining the dog on an exam table while the doctor was examining at her ears and neck. then the dog let out this ear piercing, blood curdling scream/ bark. i was scared shitless. the doctor jumped back and then i did the same. i kind of blacked out for a few seconds...b/c i have no clue how the dog didn't fall off/ jump off the table when we both jumped back. it was weird. so then the doctor grabbed a muzzle for the dog and all was well. the muzzle really stole her thunder! we determined that it was a dominance issue w/ the dog...b/c holding a dog about the neck and having a doctor touch the neck while restrained is a signal to a dog that says that we are dominant over them. the fact that we were doing this was an insult to the dog and she reacted by being extra scary to show that she was in control. we had to counteract this with the muzzle and continued physical exam and vaccinations so that she wouldn't win this mental battle! well yeah...nothing else exciting happened at work except for that. well, i did bring my dog in for a urinalysis and in house bloodwork, but everything was normal, so that wasn't exciting, thank god.

in the past few weeks we have had 3 possible cases of leptospirosis in the clinic. this is bad b/c this is a zoonootic disease, in other words, it can be spread from animals to humans. animals get it by coming into contact with rodents and their urine. the dogs all came back lepto positive when we sent out their blood to a lab one of them, an older beagle, was euthanized (put to sleep) a few weekends ago. another one, a yorkie puppy, responded to treatment and went home last week. the most recent one, a middle aged husky is in the clinic now. he doesn't seem to be responding well to treatment, but that could change. when dealing w/ these dogs we all have to wear gloves and make sure that everything used for these dogs is kept in isolation w/ them, such as garbage cans, sharps containers, vet wrap, tape, gauze, food, dishes, muzzles, leashes, thermometers, etc... their laundry also has to either be thrown out, or washed seperate with bleach. yeah. all of these precautions take so much time, especially when the dog wants to bite your face off, like the most recent case, the husky. but anyway...

oh yeah, and another thing...i have added 3 more deep scratches to my left arm. well, i didn't add them, a spazzy lab mix did with his nails. i was trimming his nails and he was being restrained by 2 people and he still nailed me (haha no pun intended), and also one of the restrainers. just walking in the door at work is a hazard, let alone doing your job...

i hope no one was too bored with this post, but i found it interesting...haha...ciao ;)