everything bagel & The Bee & Puppy makes 3

All they ever do is win 🏆🏆🏆

I took Arthur to the vet today for his annual exam and vaccines. He is a healthy boy! Vet says his weight is perfect for a lean/sport weight, he shouldn't go any less. He's exactly 29 lbs. Everything else looks good. He was a lot better behaved than his last appointment which was when he was 1, so he has matured a lot since then. He is now pretty familiar with standing on a table and being examined by a stranger (thank you dog showing). He's got no anxiety or anything about the vet, which is great. He learned pretty quickly that she's the Cookie Lady. Everyone is his best friend, but especially Cookie Ladies.

My vet is gonna send me a quote for his hip X-rays and then we can schedule to get those done for OFA. I'm doing the hips first, and if he fails we will not bother with more health testing. We might consider neutering him if any of his testing fails, but tbh the hormones are good for a lot of things and he is not hard to manage as an intact male. His parents both have Excellent hips and all normal or good or clear or whatever on all other testing, so hoping he tests the same. I already did an Embark on him for genetic diseases, and that was clear. He will need one more genetic test that's not available through Embark. He will also need patellas, thyroid, and a yearly eye exam.

Dying my show dog purple. Hope the judges don't mind.

Rolling around on his back with his teeth out is one of his favourite hobbies.

A gundog in his natural state, soggy.

Ah the joy of two baby spans playing together.

Ughh my back is still in so much pain but I went to the doctor and got some meds. The pharmacy didn't have one of them though, so I have to wait until whenever they get it to get any real relief. Great.

I'm off work for the rest of the week which sucks because we're going on a trip at the end of the month and I really need to make some money at some point y'know! Like I'm taking all this time off and I've got no income to pay bills and stuff.

I can't walk very well, can't get dressed without help, can't drive, can't bend down, basically can't really do anything for myself. I hate it.

Still can't think of any specific thing that triggered my back ... But Doctor says this is another flare-up since my spine is fucked up. Lol this is why falling off horses is no laughing matter, folks. It was a bad fall off my favourite horse in 2017 that fucked up my spine. Now I have chronic pain forever and the occasional extremely painful flare-up. How fun.

Getting back to my physiotherapist on Friday and going to start going regularly again. Maybe stabbing me in the back with some needles will help.

Oh lord she coming !

I still feel like I barely know what I'm doing when grooming Arthur. To be fair, the English Cocker is a hard breed to master. Everything is so artificially "natural" lol. Like you're doing SO MUCH to create a pretty picture that is supposed to show off the shape of the dog. But the hair doesn't naturally grow the way you want them to look ... It's all stripping and stripping and stripping and trimming perfectly straight lines and taking lots of hair off while leaving "body" in the right places ... I dunno it's difficult.

Anyway. I am considering having Arthur groomed by someone else. She is basically the local handstripping expert, and has done grooming competitions with sporting dogs, does a lot of show grooms, and shows an English Cocker. I'd like to see what a pro could do with Arthur. It might give me something to emulate and/or maintain? I know this groomer is having a bit of a slow period so would likely take a new client. I am hesitant though, because Arthur has only ever been groomed by me or his breeder with me present. His breeder can't do him anymore, it's a bit much for her. So yeah, I don't know how he'll behave at another groomer? At least it's an in-home groomer who works alone, so not as busy and stressful as an actual salon like where I work. And maybe I can really stress that if he's too upset or annoying, call me and I'll come get him early? He is very accustomed to grooming, but ... How will he behave without me there? Might be worth trying, and again, really make the groomer aware that I will come get him at any point?

The power went out while I had Arthur in the bath and now he's whining at me because he's wet. Sorry buddy can't blow dry you with no power.

Does any picture truly capture them better?

Bree, somewhat miserable face on. Arthur, slack jawed, no thoughts. Haley, yelling.

No idea what I did to it, but my back is in extreme pain. Started on Friday. Ughhhh. I can barely walk. It is the most painful when standing.

It's not lessening at all and nothing really seems to help. I'm considering going to the ER but I legitimately cannot sit in one of their crappy chairs for like 10 hours. Don't think I could even sit there for 5 minutes tbh. It's just back pain so no matter how severe it is they would probably make me wait for ages and I doubt I'd even get any painkillers or anything until I finally got into the third waiting area. Ahhhh.