Hurry up and get dressed!

All parents are familiar with the "hurry up and get dressed or you will be late for school!" routine. It was a daily litany around my house when my daughter was growing up. I wonder if her roommate has to tell her to get dressed before work or she will be late?

I have a new wrinkle on this topic. Y'all know I have a sick beagle who has seizures when she goes to the vet now. I joined a bulletin board/support group for owners of dogs with Addison's disease. Sure, my vet can tell me about medication and other medical issues, but these people live with this disease on a daily basis. It's not like our dogs can clearly enunciate what they are feeling.

I tossed out the seizure issue and received some suggestions on ways to calm Molly. One suggestion that several people employ is to tightly wrap the dog into a t-shirt. Dress my dog, in other words. Well, whatever it takes, right? Not wanting her to miss the security idea of the t-shirt (a dirty one that smells like me for comfort, of course) by associating it with the vet trips, I decided to do a trial run.

Molly was outside, so I did Baby first. I only had one dirty t-shirt so she got a nightshirt. Not just any nightshirt. A Disney one, in hot pink, with the cheshire cat on it. I bought it at Disneyland in 1988. Feel free to do the math. It's a favorite.

Did you ever try to dress a dog? These are beagles, not labs or goldens. They aren't going to just take abuse. They are more, shall we say, hyper? High strung? To my surprise, Baby just stood there. She is the skittish one. Noises make her start, and she has a habit of retreating quietly when threatened by the unknown. Not fearful, but wary, sort of wolf-like. I guess it's true that dogs are mostly colorblind, because she stood perfectly still for me to stick a hot pink nightshirt on her backwards. That means she had the big cheshire cat grinning on her back.

Nice look, Baby, but it's huge. Her nightie was dragging on the floor. So I bunched it up at the bottom and tied a knot. Oh, very attractive. But her sleeves were to the floor and about to catch on her dew claws. Hm, I never have that problem when I wear it. It's short sleeved and I trim my dew claws. So I tried to rollup the sleeves. They fell back down. I tried knotting them up, but they were too small for that. I tied them together on her back, but when she walked, the knot came undone.

Last option, I tied the sleeves together at her chest. It seemed to pull a little when she walked, so she pretty much just stood there, wary. Maybe she was afraid there was some sort of beanie to go with the outfit. I tried very hard not to laugh, but was pleased that she allowed this effrontery without complaint.

Poor Molly was outside totally oblivious to her potential fate. I let her in, and grabbed the gray t-shirt for her. She looked at me, and dropped her head. She had already seen Baby looking like a tart. I put it over her head, and the fit was better. I knotted the bottom, since I now had some experience. The rest was not a bad fit, considering she was dressing transspecies. Perhaps some nice beads for an accessory.

She refused to move much, either. Molly is very expressive, and she begged me to remove it. I didn't see any signs of her feeling secure in a t-shirt. Sorry, but I was laughing too hard to take any pictures. Besides, Molly threatened to drool on my pillow tonight if I did, or worse.

Second choice is to consider using a different vet for the next blood tests to  see if she reacts the same way. This was my idea, and I think it has some merit. The smells should be slightly different, and the people all new. Perhaps it will not trigger a seizure. I plan to pre-medicate both of us, too. Baby can drive home.