I took Macc out at 5 this morning and then he settled back in his crate much more quickly. We’ve now got a cheap camera so we can see him on our phones. This is useful from the other end of the boat, but will so come in handy in the future — perhaps if he’s asleep while we’re doing a flight of locks for example.
Yesterday, Macc kept biting his back feet and we’d also noticed that his tiny sharp claws were catching in his blankets, the rug, and our clothes, so we thought they could do with trimming. We were planning to go to Marple, so Adrian phoned the vet there and made an appointment for lunchtime.
We set off at 9 on a fairly bright but cold and blustery day. I used electric propulsion to pass all the moorings, then switched to diesel to charge the batteries and just use the engine a bit more. It’s now a fairly familiar route, so the only thing that really stuck out was this boat’s bow fender.
There were a few spaces at Marple and we decided to stop before Bridge 2, as it was difficult to see if there was space beyond, opposite the water point. Macc had his lunch and then we put him in his new sling to walk down to the vet. Perhaps not surprisingly he got a lot of comments on the way.
We saw a very nice vet calls Nicky who gave Macc the once over, which is good because lots of people say you should get a new puppy check anyway. She saw no signs of fleas or skin problems, except that one of his paws had a pad that was a little red. She thought he might have stepped on something irritating. So we now have some soothing shampoo to be used on his feet, which is probably not a bad thing because he’s spent the past few days wading through mud. Because of living on the boat, she also recommended we put him on flea and tick treatment — which is probably a good idea given that I had a tick bite myself last summer. We’ve also booked him in for his second vaccination, which means we’ll be in this area for an extra couple of weeks but should make life a bit easier. Macc was a really good boy at the vet, and of course everyone loved him. It turned out one of the receptionists has two Borders at home.
We walked back to the boat, Macc had a sleep, and we had some late lunch. When it was Macc’s tea time, I put some of his kibble in one of his toys and he had a great time batting the ball with his paws or nose to make the food fall out.
He’s also had great fun with a ball, even when it went under the sofa.
4 miles, 0 locks. (5 miles, 0 locks)
Do research on the all in one tick and flea treatment tablets that are sold/pushed now. Some dogs have a very bad reaction to the strong drug. Although, not as convenient, I do 2 separate tablets.