the big scare

maybe you're starting to figure out that we have neurotic dogs. if you haven't yet arrived to that conclusion maybe you will now...

gustavo is a creature of habit. if he were human he'd probably be diagnosed with OCD. he only likes to go to the bathroom in his special spots. period. when he was a puppy he had to have eye surgery and even after pumping him full of liquids through the IV he refused to go pee until we got home. it was the longest pee EVER. and he was a PUPPY. they aren't supposed to have THAT much control, right?

well, this is the next best on gustavo's pee list. today he came with me to the office for work. after lunch we headed to forte dei marmi (a little over an hour away from us) for his lesson with his dog trainer. we actually got there an hour early so we headed to the seaside to go for a nice long walk (& to practice on everything he's been working on). at 5:30pm we met his instructor at the field for an hour and we didn't get back to biassa until about 7:30. keep in mind that during the day he was with me nonstop and didn't pee once. when we got back to biassa he stopped in one of his "special" spots and finally peed. and peed. and peed. keep in mind that it was getting dark and he was peeing on gray cobblestones and i STILL could make out that something wasn't right. it was bright and i mean BRIGHT red. it wasn't thick like blood but everything else about it looked like a puddle of blood. this is NOT normal. i'm worried that he's brought on a UTI or even worse that he suffered some kind of trauma (jumping into the car? at his lesson?) on a very full bladder and perhaps damaged some tissue? i have no idea. when penelope had her bladder infection she had just a little blood in her pee... nothing like gustavo's tonight.

the good news is that he's peed twice since. one with blood (the second) and one without (the third). third times a charm, right?

we flipped him over and pushed around on his stomach to see if he was having any sensitivity but he wasn't showing any. i'm hoping this is just a fluke and that he'll be fine tomorrow but chances are we'll be making a vet visit.

what's next? i think i need a dog psychologist. sheesh.