The Good Boy

We went to Petco today so Peter could get his nails done. I'd been told he didn't like it, but he behaved very well. No one had to muzzle him, and he stood patiently through the whole thing. The groomers liked him--one fell in love with him, took pictures of him, and everything. (But she's not looking to adopt him. She has two elderly cats and a huge rabbit. Peter + cats + rabbit = very bad trouble.)

The best news may be that he didn't try to jump up on either groomer--or anyone else he met at the store today. He was terribly fascinated by little critters he saw in displays (I didn't let him get close enough to the enclosures to alarm the ferrets or birds), and he caught a glimpse of a tiny poodle puppy through the mesh of the owner's shoulder bag and just went rigid. I gave his leash a tug to get him moving, then got a good grip near his collar to keep him moving, but he kept looking over his shoulder, hoping the puppy's owner would follow us.

After the Petco, we stopped at my vet's office so I could get an accurate weight on him. He's lost about two pounds in three weeks. I just increased his food by half a cup last week, so we'll stay at that amount to see if it makes a difference soon. If not, we'll go up another half-cup.

Also, he's now getting Iams in the green bag. This isn't a highly rated dog food, but it's a product that lots of dog owners resort to for good, firm poop. It's also about half the price of the Nature's Recipe Venison and Rice formula he was getting, and if he can be healthy on a less expensive food, it makes sense to give it to him. If I see any sign that he's having trouble with it, I'll change him to something else. (I know lots of people rave about the Nature's Domain food from Costco/Kirkland as an inexpensive, good quality food, but my dogs never did particularly well on it. I can try it for Peter if he has trouble with the Iams.)

Tomorrow: Turkey necks!

Note: On the Dog Food Advisor's rating scale, Iams green bag scores 2.5 stars; Nature's Recipe scores 3 stars; Kirkland's Nature's Domain scores 3.5 stars. But on a scale rating content of protein-fat-carbohydrates, Iams scores 28-16-49, Kirkland scores 27-16-50, Nature's Recipe scores 24-13-54; the Iams has a higher protein tally than the other two foods.