definitely an international dog. We speak to her in French, Italian, and English at home, and she responds to all three. Clearly, not only is Minnie well dressed, she is a genius! What a perfect dog!!
Minnie
Victoria Traina
FIVE
Having a Good Vet (or: Sometimes Mother Knows Best!)
One thing that makes life simpler, if you have a dog, is having a good vet. I seem to apply a lot of the same principles to my dogs that I did to my kids. That probably sounds odd, but as I said, I am a “kid person” above all, even more than a dog person, and most of my life experience is with kids. That’s probably better than if I were applying dog principles to my kids, although maybe that works too, as long as you’re responsible and love your kids and dogs.
Before I took Minnie to Paris, I asked a friend in Paris for the name of a good vet. And she gave me the name of not a good vet but a great vet, with his own veterinary hospital, which is open 24/7. You don’t want to be searching desperatelyfor a vet or a pet hospital in the middle of the night if your dog has an accident or is seriously sick.
On the other hand, in Paris there is something called SOS Médecins (SOS Doctors) for when you feel too lousy to go out, aren’t sick enough for the emergency room, but need medical help. They come to your house and are a very useful service. And they have the same thing with vets. But I feel better going to a vet I know and who knows my dog.
And the vet my friend recommended is fabulous. Not only medically, but he is kind, warm, terrific with my dog, and has a sense of humor, which always helps. He is a really nice person. In San Francisco we go to a very competent pet hospital two blocks from my house, which is great to have so nearby, but they have many vets, and I rarely see the same vet twice. So while their medical care is top notch, the personal touch is missing, and the vet on duty may not know my dog. In Paris, going to the same doctor who knows me and my dog is an added bonus.
The first time I took Minnie to her Paris vet, she had been making funny snorting sounds. As I said earlier, I’ve never had a dog with a proper nose. My pugs as a child, and my griffs as an adult, all have squashed noses. Minnie is my first dog with a real nose. And she took to snorting (which I think is due to the steam heat in the apartment). I was sure she wasfine, but I wanted to be reassured that the snorting sounds were normal and not something like asthma. I diligently described to the doctor what she’d been doing. It was the first time we’d met. And much to my amusement, he imitated what I’d described, asking if that was the sound. It didn’t seem like the right sound, so he asked if a second noise he demonstrated was the one. That didn’t sound like it either, so he offered a third option, each time acting out the sound. And by then I had forgotten the first sound. I thought it was snort number three, but wanted to hear snort number one again. Straight faced, he went through the repertoire again, and after he did that several times, I decided that snort number three was it, which he said was called “reverse sneezing,” which apparently Chihuahuas do, and some other breeds as well. Forevermore I will always think of him demonstrating the three snorts, without batting an eye. We became friends after that.
I was particularly glad that I had established a relationship with a vet, when one night I happened to notice that Minnie had found a pipe in my kitchen that I’d never noticed before. It was a few inches above the ground, and it was severely rusty. She was licking it when I saw her and shooed her away, but I was worried that either the rust flakes on the pipe or maybe even the paint might make her sick. She seemed fine but two hours later was vomiting violently, and I was panicked.It was three in the morning by then, and I had no idea if she’d been poisoned, or if she was just sick. But she’s so tiny that seeing her so sick
Minnie
Victoria Traina
FIVE
Having a Good Vet (or: Sometimes Mother Knows Best!)
One thing that makes life simpler, if you have a dog, is having a good vet. I seem to apply a lot of the same principles to my dogs that I did to my kids. That probably sounds odd, but as I said, I am a “kid person” above all, even more than a dog person, and most of my life experience is with kids. That’s probably better than if I were applying dog principles to my kids, although maybe that works too, as long as you’re responsible and love your kids and dogs.
Before I took Minnie to Paris, I asked a friend in Paris for the name of a good vet. And she gave me the name of not a good vet but a great vet, with his own veterinary hospital, which is open 24/7. You don’t want to be searching desperatelyfor a vet or a pet hospital in the middle of the night if your dog has an accident or is seriously sick.
On the other hand, in Paris there is something called SOS Médecins (SOS Doctors) for when you feel too lousy to go out, aren’t sick enough for the emergency room, but need medical help. They come to your house and are a very useful service. And they have the same thing with vets. But I feel better going to a vet I know and who knows my dog.
And the vet my friend recommended is fabulous. Not only medically, but he is kind, warm, terrific with my dog, and has a sense of humor, which always helps. He is a really nice person. In San Francisco we go to a very competent pet hospital two blocks from my house, which is great to have so nearby, but they have many vets, and I rarely see the same vet twice. So while their medical care is top notch, the personal touch is missing, and the vet on duty may not know my dog. In Paris, going to the same doctor who knows me and my dog is an added bonus.
The first time I took Minnie to her Paris vet, she had been making funny snorting sounds. As I said earlier, I’ve never had a dog with a proper nose. My pugs as a child, and my griffs as an adult, all have squashed noses. Minnie is my first dog with a real nose. And she took to snorting (which I think is due to the steam heat in the apartment). I was sure she wasfine, but I wanted to be reassured that the snorting sounds were normal and not something like asthma. I diligently described to the doctor what she’d been doing. It was the first time we’d met. And much to my amusement, he imitated what I’d described, asking if that was the sound. It didn’t seem like the right sound, so he asked if a second noise he demonstrated was the one. That didn’t sound like it either, so he offered a third option, each time acting out the sound. And by then I had forgotten the first sound. I thought it was snort number three, but wanted to hear snort number one again. Straight faced, he went through the repertoire again, and after he did that several times, I decided that snort number three was it, which he said was called “reverse sneezing,” which apparently Chihuahuas do, and some other breeds as well. Forevermore I will always think of him demonstrating the three snorts, without batting an eye. We became friends after that.
I was particularly glad that I had established a relationship with a vet, when one night I happened to notice that Minnie had found a pipe in my kitchen that I’d never noticed before. It was a few inches above the ground, and it was severely rusty. She was licking it when I saw her and shooed her away, but I was worried that either the rust flakes on the pipe or maybe even the paint might make her sick. She seemed fine but two hours later was vomiting violently, and I was panicked.It was three in the morning by then, and I had no idea if she’d been poisoned, or if she was just sick. But she’s so tiny that seeing her so sick
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