Rocky got his final vaccinations yesterday, at the age of 16 weeks. I had asked to rent a car but all they had for me was a pickup truck, so Rocky got to ride out to the vet like a big old hunting dawg. He is supposed to sit on the floor on the passenger side, with his leash tied to the lever thing that makes the seat go backwards and forwards. I got the leash tied all right but he immediately jumped up onto the seat. The leash isn’t short enough to keep him on the floor so I gave up and put a towel on the seat and off we went.

When he was weighed, he had gained 10 pounds since his 12-week vaccinations and now he weighs 34.5 pounds. He has an itchy spot on the inside of one hind leg and the vet said this was likely caused by bacteria invading a bit of broken skin. I said he seemed to have had a few insect bits a couple of weeks ago and she said that sounded about right. Instead of antibiotics (which we are both loathe to administer) I am instructed to swab the affected area twice daily in rubbing alcohol. To prevent him from licking the leg right after the alcohol, we’ll go for a walk - which we did this morning and it worked out well. The vet also is reducing his feeding to twice a day and upping the quantity from a total of 4 1/2 cups to 5 cups of puppy chow. She also thinks this might help with the midnight pooping, especially if I combine it with a walk just before bedtime. I have been walking him around 7pm but now I will go out at about 9:30.

I have also noticed that his two front (adult) teeth are coming in at a rapid pace.


On the way home, Rocky suddenly seemed tired and lay down on the seat and even appeared to go to sleep for a moment. I suspect it was the shots he was given.

By the time he was home, he had perked up again. Since we had rented a vehicle, we actually went out to dinner and a movie last night! I figured he would sleep off the excitement and vaccinations in his crate and so we went to see “Serenity” which we really enjoyed (having been big fans of the brief tv series). It was a long day for all of us and Rocky slept right through the night. I however had an allergic reaction to the cigarette smoke and aftershave of the previous renter of the vehicle and spent a miserable night.