A few of you have asked about Piper and Mabel so I thought I’d update you on their Christmas vacation. The truth is that Santa didn’t bring them anything this year. Mainly because last year he brought them each a stocking filled with chew toys and a few stuffed animals which I had to promptly put away because a gigantic dog fight nearly broke out in my living room.
Over the last year I’ve occasionally tried to bring out their Christmas presents to see if they could figure it out, but it always results in much growling and posturing and just generally socially reprehensible behavior.
Sometimes sisters have a hard time sharing.
And so all they got for Christmas this year was love and affection.
(There was a moment over Christmas vacation when I had PMS and Caroline was a little emotional and Piper and Mabel were just full on crazy that I told P the title of my next book might be “ALL THE GIRLS IN THIS HOUSE ARE INSANE”. He didn’t argue with me.)
But they did bond yesterday because I had to take them to the vet to get their annual rattlesnake vaccine. Let’s not think too long and hard about the fact that they need this vaccine because there are actual rattlesnakes that they can come across at the ranch.
Their appointment was for 10:00 a.m. and I began to feel real anxiety about 9:30 when I started to think about the potential goat rodeo that would be involved in getting them out of my car and into the vet’s office. Fortunately, P was home and offered to follow me to the vet to help get them situated. This was an ideal scenario because they listen to him much better than they listen to me and they have also never dragged him across a parking lot and caused him to skin his knee.
He got them out of the back of my car and walked them into the office while I parked. We signed them in and then he had to leave for another appointment, but the girls were relatively calm other than Piper feeling the need to occasionally growl at other dogs in the waiting room.
Eventually it was our turn to go back and Piper proved once again that she’ll do anything for a few dog treats whereas Mabel felt certain the whole thing was an elaborate scheme that would end in me leaving her there forever. She’s always codependent, but there was a moment after she and Piper got weighed that she actually jumped on Piper’s back and rode her in to the examination room in her attempt to get as close as possible lest she be left behind.
They each got their rattlesnake vaccine with no drama and Mabel got a prescription for the occasional doggy depressant because she’s a girl who sometimes has more feelings than she can handle and, last time I checked, no one makes a cabernet for dogs.
And I guess the stress of the day made them feel extra appreciative of each other because I found them curled up in the same bed later in the day.
Mabel, of course, wrote a haiku about it.
Doctor makes me scared
Sister calms my rattled nerves
Yet she’s a bed hog