Today I got to spend more time at Angell and to see more dogs.  Never mind that the doctor changed my splint again because my mom noticed that I had eaten the bandages once again and that about two feet of bandage was trailing out the bottom of the splint, and that I had chewed away at the bottom part of my splint.  There is no doubt that I would have continued pulling and chewing had she not seen me and stopped me.   Never mind that within ten minutes of her noticing that, we were back in the car, my joy at going for another car ride had made me forget about my annoying splint and bandages. I was at the animal hospital, among friends.

In the animal hospital, I met a wonderful dog named Traveller.  I am showing you a photo of Traveller, who was really friendly, very sweet-natured, and very mature.

A lot of children also came up to me. The children were very interested in me and asked Jane a lot of questions about me.

Two little sisters, Wanda and Miri, came and sat near us.  Wanda wanted to know my name and I couldn’t answer for myself so Jane answered for me. When Wanda’s little sister Miri saw my tail wagging back and forth, she pointed to my tail and her finger was moving back and forth as my tail was moving back and forth, and she asked, “What’s that?  Why is his tail doing that?”  Jane said that it’s called wagging, and that I’m wagging my tail. She said that I wag my tail when I’m happy.  The little girl seemed happy with this answer.

Then a little boy who said his name was Giovanni came up to us.  He saw my leg in the bandage and wanted to know what had happened to him.  Jane said that I was hit by a car.  Honestly, I don’t remember being hit by a car, but that’s what Jane said happened to me.  Giovanni had a lot of interesting questions. He pointed to the large bald spot on my back and leg and asked, ‘What happened here?” Jane said that the doctors had to shave me so they could do surgery on my ankle. They wanted the whole leg to be clean.  Then Giovanni pointed to the bald rectangle on my side and asked, “What happened here?”  Jane said that when I was hit by the car, I was in a lot of pain so the doctors shaved that area and then put some medicine on that spot so that I didn’t feel so much pain and could relax.  Giovanni held out his hand to me and I licked it. Then I licked his face!  He laughed and enjoyed that!

Wanda then came up to us again and held out her two hands that were cupped together as one, and showed us a little box that she was now tenderly carrying.  Wanda had had a little white pet hamster named Cookie Dough and he had fallen down and gotten very hurt. The girls’ mommy and the two sisters had brought him to the hospital but the doctors couldn’t save his life. Wanda said, with tearful eyes, that inside the box was Cookie Dough and we said “Goodbye, Cookie Dough” and gave Wanda a little hug. Then Wanda, holding her little box, and Miri and their mummy left the hospital, to allow Wanda time to heal her fractured heart.

The hospital even had visiting hours! There were afternoon visiting hours (11 a.m. – 12 p.m.) , and evening visiting hours (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.). Some people worry if their pets are in the hospital and they can’t visit them every day.  I think we pets are just fine with that.  There were some days when Jane and Phil couldn’t get to the hospital but that was fine because my doctor kept them informed about how I was doing, and also because I just needed a lot of rest.  Of course when Jane and Phil came, I felt great, even though I was pretty tired and out of it.  Jane even came right into my pen and sat down with me!  It took a lot of effort because I was so groggy but I did manage to wag my tail now and then, which was my favorite way of saying that I was happy to see them.

I noticed and remember when Jane said, “Look! He’s wagging his tail!” and I could hear the excitement in her voice.  I noticed that she had noticed and was glad.