Crazy dogs

I did something today that I've tried to avoid. I took both dogs to the vet's office at once. By myself.

It was time for Loki's annual checkup, plus Thor needed a booster of something. I'm sure the vet's office has seen much crazier dogs, but to me, they were in prime form. When you've got a 90-pound, incredibly strong dog pulling you, whining and crying that she wants to leave -- NOW -- and a 70-pound scardy-dog blindly following the other, it gets a little frustrating.

I sighed with relief when we got into the exam room where I could remove their leashes, take off my jacket, put down the keys, sit in a chair, and do my best to communicate through body language that we weren't leaving and they should settle down. It kind of worked. Loki continued to verbalize and pace. Thor, the scardy-dog, did his shadowmeld against the wall, when he wasn't giving himself away being silly with his sister.

Anyway, Loki made it through her exam, four shots and blood sample drawn, with a few reassuring licks/kisses on the face from her little brother and a lot of manhandling/coaxing from me.

Then it was Thor's turn to get up on the exam platform, have his temperature taken and get his shot. The funny thing was, and I'm not sure if it was because he got to watch the vet go through this routine with Loki or if he was just feeling braver with Loki around, but he very easily submitted to his exam, even seeming to not mind when the vet petted him.

"I think this is the most -- forgive the word -- normal I've ever seen Thor act," the vet said.

"No offense," I assured her. "Normal is a good word."

In the end, it turned out that our confident dog ended up being the hyper dork, and the wussy dog ended up acting almost calm and rational.