Big dog body, little dog brain

Like many big beasties Bilbo generally thinks he's a 15lb lapdog.

This week he got a chance to show off some more of his little dog skills during a trip to the vet. 

Now, the thing about Bilbo is that he tends to short circuit in exciting situations. Places like petstores, street fairs and vet offices make his brain explode and he becomes a whirly barking machine. We've definitely made progress though; on our very first trip to the vet he thrashed around on the end of the leash like a barking shark. By the end of last summer we'd progressed to doing-as-told in exciting places but with soundtrack included. This week's vet visit was a bit of a milestone as the near constant barking was reduced by a good 60% - we even managed to walk calmly through the door!

But, back to the small dog impression... the few moments that I could count on Billy being calm was when the vet was prodding and poking at him. Apparently that fulfilled his need for attention and barking whirlygig transformed into smiley, waggly, adorable squishnose. Until last August when he decided that having his temperature taken was just NOT ON! This time around temperature wasn't a problem but that needle the vet was brandishing? Luckily, instead of remembering that he's a big scary beastie with HUUUUGE jaws, he flips onto his back, squirms, wriggles, kicks his legs in the air and makes tiny little toy dog squeals and yaps as he tries to escape.

I'm not sure whether it would be more amusing or pitiful, except for the fact that he is just ever so strong and it's mostly plain old difficult. I got a fat lip the first time he did it, helping to keep the monster still. This time, two vet techs sprawled across him on the floor, while his vet whipped in to get a couple of measly drops of blood to do his annual tests.

Of course, the second they were finished he had to go around the room giving everyone kisses and leaving a few last bruises with his whip of a wagtail. Added to the huge strides we made in the noise department, I'm chalking this one up to the win column!

Oh, and we're all cleared for cart pulling so the harness is ordered. Exciting...