Cone Dog – Post 3 of The Boise Roommate Saga

I didn’t immediately understand that I needed to go to Boise. I had hired a defense attorney and was researching eviction attorneys. What exactly else was needed? My friend, Alan, thought otherwise. Alan and I trade coaching – I coach him for free in exchange for him coaching me for free. So he was one of the few people who knew what was going on, and he was adamant that I needed to go out there. But I was having trouble picturing my role. What would I do when I got there? But Alan was literally threatening to go out there himself, so hmmm, I guess I needed to go to Boise.

Then Laura called, and she was also thinking that we needed to go out there. She sounded ready to go. She shouldn’t have to go alone, so I said, ok, I’ll go too. I’ll figure out how to get up there.

Clearly I was going to need to go to Boise for an undetermined length of time. But what about Biska, my new puppy? I was still fostering her. The rescue group wouldn’t allow me to adopt her until she had been spayed. And I had no say whatsoever over when her spay appointment was. I was just told when and where to show up. Non-negotiable. If I missed it, they would repossess my dog.

I couldn’t leave Tucson until Biska was spayed and we had adopted her. But I couldn’t make any travel plans because I didn’t know when her spay was actually going to happen. They kept changing my appointment day! First they said October 4. Then they changed it to October 14. Then they switched it back to October 4 again. Meanwhile, the reports from Boise were more and more alarming. I felt trapped – it was like I was on some sort of puppy probation with an ankle bracelet – I couldn’t go anywhere!

Finally the day came to get her spayed. The rescue group was having her spay done at the absolute cheapest (worst) clinic in town and we were not allowed to pay for our own vet to do it. The cut rate place got the job done, but the stitch job was the messiest I’ve ever seen. A couple of days after surgery the top layer started to separate and bleed, and we had to go back to ensure that stitches underneath weren’t at risk of popping out.

The whole thing was very worrying, and meanwhile I was trying to figure out how to get out of town.

At least we were finally be able to officially adopt her, and we shouldn’t have to deal with the rescue agency ever again. Ever again!

She was cute in her cone.

You can see that Tucson was still getting monsoon rains in early October.

We were supposed to be keeping her calm, but that was stupidly impossible. She had all her puppy energy!

She was spayed, she was ours, and it looked like her stitches were holding. And I needed to be in Boise. As soon as I was pretty sure she was safe to travel, I piled her, cone and all, into the van with tons of luggage for any contingency, and the two of us started our slow drive to Boise.

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