I'm a pathetic dog owner. Let's hope I make a better mother.

Since we've gotten home, Boo has had a sore on the tip of her tail which I've been watching carefully. Honestly, I did not want to bring her to the vet because it's a colossal pain (they always make you wait, even when you have an appointment, at least 30 minutes) and now with Charlie, I could only imagine the utter mayhem that would ensue with an 80 pound dog trying to pull her hardest to reach all the other living creatures in the waiting room, and Charlie in her stroller vocalizing her discontent. Plus, not earning any money right now... if the sore was going to take care of itself, that's another $100.00 I really didn't need to be spending.

All week the sore looked the same, with a scab over it. But yesterday (Sunday, when the vet is closed, of course) I checked the wound, and the scab had fallen off and underneath was the grossest thing EVER. There was a HOLE in her TAIL. I could see the BONE. Ugh. Poor baby. I'm thinking she was bitten by some flesh-eating spider.

So this morning I called for a same day (read: "wait forever") appointment, packed up the crew with bottles, diapers, leashes, etc and headed off for a THREE HOUR WAIT.

Charlie was AWESOME. Not a cranky peep out of her. She was charming and pleasant. She had all the patrons wrapped around her finger from the first minute.

Boo was AWESOME. She was friendly to other dogs and obeyed my every command.

If either of them had decided to act up, I don't know what I would have done for three hours... but they were both perfect, thank heavens.

The vet...

well, he was a major guilt tripper....

"You waited HOW LONG before bringing her in? A whole WEEK? Do you know this looks VERY PAINFUL? This SMELLS AWFUL, it's definitely infected."

I tried to explain that normally I'm a better dog owner who wouldn't wait a week... but that I had just returned home with a new baby, I had a cold and couldn't smell anything (true, I had actually tried smelling her tail and it smelled like daisies to me), and that Boo was still eating normally and acting ok.... but then just petered off into guilty silence, looking at the floor, drawing imaginary circles with my Croc toe. Took my medicine, so to speak. Apologized sincerely to Boo when the vet left the room for awhile (she forgave me instantly) for being a HORRIBLE, NEGLECTFUL, doggie-mommy.

On the bright side, I met several wonderful pet owners in the waiting room and practically could write their eulogies after spending so much time with them....

I packed up the crew and $128.00 later, we headed home, no worse for wear. Boo needs antibiotics and that's it aside from a 30 inch Elizabethan collar which is banging into every surface in the house. We'll be back next week for a follow up, another $100.00, and more exciting adventures from the vet waiting room.

Chalk up one small victory for single parenting and dog owning, although Boo might tell you otherwise.