The Story of BB the Great Dane

  BB after his dip, 31 wks old

Mr. BB had his splendid self a dip in the pool Tuesday! Oh the shaking and resistance when the life vest went on… I tore the handle trying to pick him up with the vest, so it was back to the old fashioned lift and shove to the edge, followed by an unceremonious lift and splash. He did the four legged puppy paddle for about 10 minutes, with rests on the stairs between bouts of swimming.

Hopefully today we can get him back in the pool. I have a tracking harness that I believe will be big enough to go over the life vest, and provide a truly sturdy handle for picking him up with. It’s easier to cart him around than it is to fight the mule, so to speak. Thank God BB isn’t as strong as his brother! When he is too strong for me, then he earns the right not to splish splash! Poor little poops, the indignidities…

Bless his sweet heart, it is so traumatic for him when he knows he’s going in the drink. But for physical therapy, nothing beats the pool. He uses all four legs in it, and uses the repaired leg more afterwards. He’s far from having a four leg gait, but that is from lack of effort on Mom’s part. She wasn’t doing his PT before the bowel obstruction, and she wasn’t doing it afterwards, either, so he had gone back to curling up and carrying around his leg. That makes the dip in the big bath unavoidable for our bent bottom boy. I’m sorry baby!

But you can see from the photo, the after-bath treatment isn’t so bad! Some shiney up the puppy rubs and resting in the sunshine with his Mom makes it all better. There’s kissey fests, and back-talking galore, too. The water also seemed to get rid of his belly rash, and helped considerably with his smell. The boy just has a strong body odor, smelly again only a couple days after a bath. I’m guessing the food and stress is the culprit. Nothing I can do to reduce BB’s stress, and I won’t change the food since he is doing so well on Eagle Pack again.

The indomitable banana butt has also mastered his footstool!! He gets up on the couch with Mom all by himself now, carefully placing his feet and using all his legs to do it. All his legs! It might be a small thing to get up on the couch for another dog, but it is a mighty victory for Beebs. He gets praise from everyone and sometimes a treat, then settles in for a satisfying cuddle, which is the best treat to be found.