My PITA BOY is named Luigi.

He is a high-maintenance Doberboy. He’s prone to hurting himself, or getting strange maladies that take a lot of testing and money to diagnose and treat. But he is also a brilliant character, and my best buddy, besides my other best buddies.

I took him to his first obedience class, on Monday, March 17. This was because I need motivation to be on schedule with him, and a class will make me get done what needs to get done. Meanwhile, Monday night was cold and windy. We had to sit in bleachers while the instructor talked about fundamental things regarding showing in AKC shows. Being we’ve been there/done that, we had to busy our minds and selves with something else to keep us warm and stimulated. Luigi is good at helping me with that.

Luigi is a bean. A jumping bean. He couldn’t sit still while the instructor was talking. I had to pet him the whole time and whisper to him how great he is. But he squirmed enough that I feared his falling from the bleachers, so we had to walk down the aisle, back down those stairs, come around the class, and sit on the stairs where the group was. This prevented another big vet bill, I’m sure. Then he had to go up and down the steps, which was another exciting time. I think the boy has ADHS!

Luigi’s been to a vet (a high-priced surgeon) who burned his toenails so short when he was having $2K sugery to remove a bladder stone and what was probably scar tissue near his salivary gland, that even 1-1/2 years later, Luigi’s toenails are still recovering from that botched up job. Yes, I have written a formal complaint to the vet board about that. Over a year ago, and still have not had word on that. Such is justice, or that lack thereof.

I trimmed the toenails that were safe to trim at my lunch break on class day. Even with the small amount I clipped off, he still bled. (I generally Dremel my dog’s toenails, but because of the malformed mess that so-called veterinary surgeon left Luigi’s nails in, I can’t use the Dremel due to Luigi’s nails’ sensitivity.) Because two nails bled, that leaves his nails open to infection. After the surgery, Luigi had such bad infection in his nails that pus oozed from them, so we are very careful to keep them as free from infection as possible.

Because of the possibility of infection, (the rodeo arena is full of interesting particulate on the grounds), after class, I soaked PITA boy’s toenails in Listerine and water. Though I could have chosen eiher iodine and water or a chlorhexadine flush as well. Luigi has a whole medicine chest full of his stuff for all parts of him.

Most recently, I found a lovely rash on his belly. We are working on clearing that up, as well as more fun stuff such as heeling without crabbing, sitting straight, the recall, and the ever-challenging sit/down/stand stays. Luigi’s best exercise is the fetch, which he is master of being he has always loved playing fetch.

And he is learning to jump over hurdles and such.

Luigi’ll do anything, mostly, for a click-and-treat. And he expects to play ball after his training sessions. I do my best to oblige. He is my best PITA son, and I love him dearly.

Helen, Luigi’s mom