December with my dog

I'm surprised to see I haven't posted any updates on Penny's day-to-day life since October 6th. Where did October and November go?

Anyway, there is one thing to report for November - Penny had a long-overdue haircut. Here she is, energised after the visit to her lovely groomer, Gabby.

Penny has never been fond of being groomed, but when I took her for a walk prior to going into the salon, she tugged me down the driveway into Gabby's place. That's what I call 'voting with your feet'! Gabby has a gift for making Penny relaxed and happy.

It had been cool for November, so I covered her with a blanket the first couple of nights, as she has quite a thin coat.

I didn't have to do that for long. December arrived with a vengeance, and hot, hot weather landed on us. It was too hot, even at night, to walk, so I drove to Kepala to give her a swim. I loaded up a big container of  water in a cooler in case the car broke down, because I don't think she could deal with 38°C these days. She was panting in the back seat, even with the air conditioner going, but we got there safely after the 50 minute drive.

It was worth it.

The rules specify that humans are not allowed past the blue line, so I took that as a definite instruction to wade in up to the blue line. (When I wasn't taking a break in the shaded hut.)

It's not only about keeping cool. The benefits of swimming are wonderful for old dogs with joint problems. Look at how she stretches her limbs when she swims.

swimming as a means of relieving a limp

Penny's been having a quieter time than usual lately, because she developed a nasty limp last weekend. It was a long weekend, so we couldn't go to our own vet, which made us decide to let her rest and see if it improved. (She didn't seem to be in pain if she was resting.)

It has in fact improved a lot, so I decided to try her out on a swim at Kepala Canine County Club, in their warm indoor pool. We've been to the canine resort previously with Cindy's dog-walking group and, long ago, with the Kintala Club, but had never gone alone, so it was a bit of a discovery adventure.

I was late, because I overlooked the fact that our city's population is growing at the rate of about 100,000 a year, with the result that traffic is SLOWER than last time I travelled to Diggers' Rest!

But when we arrived, it was great fun and well worth the longish trip. Seeing I'd had a swimming lesson with Penny at Kepala in the past, I was allowed to supervise her myself, but when she was a bit nervous about walking down the ramp, I thought for a moment I'd have to abandon our session and come back another time for a proper lesson.



Feeling a bit tentative, I decided to attach her lead and walk beside her, but soon realised I was pulling her slightly off-balance and making her nervous. So I took the lead off.


Once I threw her treasured Whirlwheels in, close to the point where the ramp led into the water, she was off and swimming freely.



We had a half-hour booking, and I wondered whether she would swim that long, but not only did she swim happily for thirty minutes in the warm pool, but right when I was reluctantly thinking about leaving she climbed out for the final time and went to the gate to show me it was time to stop throwing her toy. She must be a mind-reader!



Next I got her to walk up the convenient steps to the hydrobath.



I washed her with the nice new cake of soap my sister bought from Warbotanicals a little soap shop in Warburton, and tried unsuccessfully to understand how to make the hairdryers work. No idea. Maybe next time we will have a proper drying session. Fortunately the car heater has a strong warm current, so she dried off on the slo-o-o-w drive home.