Alanis makes a statement

Pre-op, looking sweet and innocent.

On Friday Alanis went to the vet to get stitches removed from three incisions where small tumors near her mammary glands had been taken out the previous week. I was happy to learn none of the tumors were malignant but I will need to keep an eye on her. Alanis will be twelve in less than a week and was not spayed until she retired at age eight from her career as a show dog and mom. A later spay increases the risk of breast cancer in bitches but a too-early spay increases the risk of incontinence. (Sadly, animal shelters have no choice but to alter dogs even as young as eight weeks before they can be adopted out, but I urge people who have bought a dog from a breeder to do some research about the right age.)

After surgery the veterinarian always advises the dog owner to keep the dog quiet for a certain amount of time, upon which the dog owner falls about the place laughing at the impossibility. In Alanis' case, my chuckle was for a different reason. Alanis is not a high-powered mover and shaker like Miro. Even when I brough her home four years ago, she was an atypical Airedale who did not leap about or try to knock your feet out from under you. No, the problem wasn't keeping her quiet but keeping Miro from bothering her, which I accomplished with judicious yelling.

Back to Friday. As the vet and I sat in the clinic lobby reviewing care information, Alanis moved to the nearby area rug, squatted and peed. Indoors! After a second of gaping like a fish, I shot to my feet, saying, "Alanis, no!"

Chuckling, the vet said, "She has just shown us what she thinks about being here."

The devil-dog reveals herself.