16 June 11

The last two days have been the best of times and the worst of times for Nelson. 

The bad news first....we visited with Dr. Rocky again about Nelson's heart worm treatments.  It is SO scary.  However, I totally trust Dr. Rocky @ Turtle Creek Veterinary Medical Center.  I just HATE to put Nelson through such a horrible treatment.  He has his first treatment on 6 July.  Thirty days later he will have his second treatment.  During that time he will have to remain very quiet.  Nothing to elevate his heart rate and possibly cause a large amount of dead worms to break loose and cause severe damage to his lungs or cause a blockage somewhere.  Scary!  If we would have known that he had heart worms before we met him we would have never taken him...and he probably would have been put down.  I'm glad we didn't know!  I'm glad we were able to save him!

Now...the good news....

We visited the pet store yesterday and he did great.  Then we went to Tractor Supply...which is the ONLY other business in Hick-ville that is pet friendly...and we explored for about 45 minutes.  There was A LOT going on there.  A lot of noises...people dropping things....shopping carts....a lot of strange things for Nelson to encounter.  He did amazingly well.  He was a little timid at times but never really scared.  Several people petted him and was friendly to everyone.  After that we came home and went for our evening walk.  On the little oil road we had a chance encounter with a friend who stopped and got out of the car and petted him.  I'm so impressed with the way he meets people!

This afternoon we went for a walk down our usual road.  Our neighbor was out in his yard with his grandkids.  I decided to take Nelson for an introduction.  One of the grandkids is little boy about 4 years old.  He came running and screaming to pet the puppy.  Nelson spooked a little bit but soon settled down and accepted the little boy's rough petting.

This was PERFECT conditioning for Nelson's preparation for therapy work.  He is going to be so good at it!  I am so looking forward to Nelson sharing his love with the sick and elderly people in our community.