bonding time

Today, I spent a solid 8 hrs with Ava, side by side as she went into work with me and we went to have her donate blood afterwards. She even goes into the single occupancy bathroom at work with me because she may whine if I leave her and then bark when I return. I love spending time with her but it's a lot of time and she's pretty demanding. Still, I feel that this bonding time is important.

When we initially got her, I was constantly thinking, "Dean would never do that," or "I never had to work this hard with Dean," and that's really unfair to Ava. Fortunately, Andrew's been in her corner the whole time, consistently praising her and stating what a wonderful dog she is. And I have to admit, she's pretty great. She just has a different demeanor than an older male black lab that has been with the same person for 12+ years. Go figure.

Anyway, she did great with the blood donation. The vet tech said that normally they just put the dog on the exam table to get her used to it. However, Ava did so well with that so they took a pint of blood from her. It's weird to watch and I guess dog biology is a lot different than human biology when it comes to blood loss. Her system instantly replaced what she had loss whereas it's a slower process with humans. Hence, the dizziness, the orange juice, and the cookies. Ava didn't get those things but she did get a cool toy which she instantly took to her kennel.