so.

shortly after the whole parvo incident passed, when we had maddie home sweet home and we were able to be with her, we potty trained her. no biggie.

and then she went in for her spay. and then it seemed like she lost all concept of potty training.

so we started over at square one, with no improvement over the next couple weeks.

these past two weeks especially, rob and i have been pulling our hair out, as we've come home everyday to a dog who needs to be wiped clean/bathed, and a crate that needs to be sprayed down/cleaned. needless to say, it sucks.

after coming home today to another mess, after only three hours of being gone, we were at wits end. i teach people how to potty train dogs for a living, dammit. i should know ow to do this. so we put on our thinking caps... and then it hits me. uti. urinary tract infection. an extremely common cause for many potty training problems. but what struck me as odd, is that uti's are usually caused by a poor diet. and maddie eats very well. so i thought nah, can't be that.

so we head off to buy some puppy wipes, and end up running into my boss who informs me that uti's also occur very frequently in female dogs who have just been spayed. ah HA! it all made so much sense.

off to the vet we go. two hours, a urine test, and $125 bucks later, we have maddie home again, filled up with antibiotics and resting peacefully in front of our now operational fireplace.

i swear, this dog is giving us a crash course in veterinary medicine. one of the vet techs told us today, ``we always love to see madison, she's she a sweetheart!`` to which i replied, ``no offense, but i think she'd rather go without seeing you all for awhile.`` they agreed... this poor baby has been though so much in such a short while.

but at least it seems to be stabilizing. the antibiotics are supposed to begin working immediately, and after three weeks of administering them, we bring her back in for a checkup to make sure the infection has cleared.

i think with any other dog i'd have gone gray with worry over this... but with maddie, eh, it's small potatoes in comparison. besides, she's a trooper. and i know it sounds insane, but rob and i are happy that we know what the cause is, in that we know we're just not a bunch of screw-ups who can't potty train a dog properly. *g*

any thoughts? (0)����������������