Good News

The results from the lab today are pretty clear that Bethena's NOT Addisonian. While it's frustrating to know that it's fairly likely that she's got some sort of food intolerance (those can be very hard to pin down), it's good to know that I don't need to worry about things like obedience trials and heat stressing her out any more than they might any other dog. (The really interesting part of this is that we stim-tested another dog the same day. This other dog had fewer changes than Bethena (who had relatively mild changes) but came back as Addisonian. She did much better yesterday after getting some steroids and will start regular treatment next week.)

Bethena must have known that I was less stressed this afternoon; she was less stressed, too. We played lots of frisbee (in bursts -- while it was less hot, it was still wicked hot for this part of New Hampshire) and she really enjoyed herself. Iggy helped by pointing out to her that what he perceives as the boredom of continuously retrieving the same object can be alleviated by playing tug-of-war with said object. As far as self-actualization goes, you can't get much better than a Labrador playing so hard that collapse on a shady spot of lawn is more important than eating delicacies such as fermented-lawn-mower-grass-leavings and mushrooms.

Now they are both sacked out napping, Iggy on the couch and Bethena on the floor at my feet. They attended to my wounds when I came in from berry picking with layers of mosquito bites. While I suppose that some of their ministrations were due to sweat and salt, I'd like to think that some were due to them knowing how inflamed my skin was and how much I needed a good Labrador lick.

I'll see how the day goes tomorrow, but if they seem happy I might try some very informal fun rally-type stuff in the front yard. When Bethena's in that groove (as she was in Boston in June) and when Iggy's in a spot where he's not distracted, they have lots of fun with that -- and that's the whole point, having fun.