a few weeks ago, hank ate a cherry chapstick. he didn’t eat the plastic part, but all the waxy stuff inside. we are all still getting used to having a puppy and taking care not to leave things out that aren’t good for him. at the time, i was annoyed at the kids and fascinated by the new sweetness of his breath, but was not overly concerned. i should have been. at 4:30 am the next morning i woke to the sounds of loud slurping. when i managed to get my eyes open, i saw that hank was licking something off my duvet (YES… he has started sleeping in my bed. one night i just meant to have a cuddle with him and i fell asleep before putting him back in the crate and now his new spot seems established.) i couldn’t understand what he was eating and then i came to the horrifying realization that he was re-ingesting his own VOMIT! i am not great with bodily stuff and it was all i could do not to throw up myself. i scooped him up and took him outside for some fresh air. then i brushed his little teeth and had him drink some water. he seemed okay and i thought it was a “one off” situation like my children sometimes had as babies. we went back upstairs, i replaced the blanket and we both went back to sleep. and then at 6 am he did it AGAIN! this time, i was much swifter. i picked him up before he could eat it and quarantined him in the bathtub. he was not best pleased with this situation, but i could not let him roam around my house barfing. i was already faced with laundering two duvets and their covers. luckily, the vet opened at 7 am so hank didn’t have to stay in the tub too long. the doctors were a bit surprised that i brought him in… apparently dogs eat weird things and throw up all the time, but i have never had one before and was worried he would get dehydrated… he is such a little guy. we both went home to rest and do laundry - you wouldn’t believe all the feathers flying around my drier from the duvets! hank spent most of the day sleeping and i thought it was over. unfortunately, i had a date that night with someone new and i could not get a single sentence out without yawning (so rude!) because i was so tired. it didn’t really matter as it turned out this guy had THREE cats. that was definitely a deal breaker… i am now a dog person, even a barfing dog person.
my date obviously did not last long and i raced home to go to bed. hank and i fell asleep immediately. at 11 pm hank leaped out of the bed (YES… even after barfing in my bed the night before, i let him back in - just try refusing his big, solemn eyes.) when i looked over the edge, he was throwing up on the floor. my heart just swelled with love… i so appreciated his polite choice to vomit on the easily cleanable, wooden floor, rather than on my bedding again. clearly his cotillion classes left an impression.
when i became a mother, i decided that fancy sheets were just too much pressure. between the spitting up and exploding diapers and other gross things that babies do, i wanted the peace of mind to be able to throw away or literally bleach the sh*t out of my sheets. so began my loyalty to ikea sheets. now that my kids are much older and generally less disgusting, i began toying with the idea of nicer sheets. except now we have hank.
to read more about hank click here