Back to the Vet

When you have to shout the date of your next appointment at the woman behind the counter as your suddenly 58-pound dog yanks you, flailing, out the front door of the vet's office... he may no longer be a puppy.

Shadow returned to the vet today after a nearly two-month hiatus. His first call of action was to attempt climbing a woman in the waiting area. Then he moved on to the secretary, all the while skating along the tile floor like a berserk spider wearing roller skates.

My favorite part of the checkup, however, was when Shadow embarked upon his first (to my knowledge) feline encounter. It was a quartet of newborn kittens, to be exact, and both species were captivated by each other.

One particularly gutsy black kitten engaged in a sort of staring contest with the six-month-old silver Lab until (I hate to admit it) Shadow let out a whine. (I apologize for the picture quality, but I was armed only with my iPhone, and dogs move super fast.)

Finally past the waiting area, Shadow was so strong and rambunctious that the attendant had to call in backup to get him on the scale. And when I say scale, I mean a steel trough with no sides that rises a good three feet off the ground with the flick of a switch.

But what else can I expect from a new-to-this-world puppy in the body of a 58-pound adolescent dog? He sleeps through the night, he doesn't launch into a barking frenzy the moment I walk in or out of the door, he can be left outside his crate while I'm not paying him any attention, he's about 90 percent housebroken, and he can actually walk tolerably on a lead.

The jumping on people is the biggest issue left, but just like all the others, it will one day be history. And one day I'll miss his rambunctious, I-want-to-play-with-

everything-and-sniff-everything-and-jump-on-everything crazy phase.