Say, "Cheese!"...

...when the medication wears off.
I know I'm probably a horrible person, but I've never had my dog's teeth cleaned. I take them to the vet annually...really-more like quarterly given their various aches, ailments, and anxiety issues, but I didn't know about the teeth needs.
Lilly has some serious halitosis issues that I mentioned at her last appointment (I'm pretty sure she says the same thing about me to HER friends on her dogbook account), and the vet frantically agreed the girl needed a teeth cleaning.
She went today, and $213 dollars later (after a 20% dental discount b/c it's February-and who knows, or really cares why that matters, as long as there is a discount), she is two teeth short of a full set of (now) clean teeth.
OH, this isn't the most exciting entry you've ever read? Well, how about I work on a little sympathy. Is your violin ready?
The first year of Lilly's life she lived somewhere else...I don't know where, and it's a good thing b/c I'd have to beat someone up. She must have loved her owners because she's the best dog in the whole world, and harbors no bitterness. I love this girl, and she has more personality than an entire class of kindergartners, but her owners did not do a good job of loving her. She was taken away into protective custody via the SPCA. She weighed half of the weight she should have, and her teeth were ruined b/c she was apparently caged in some way, and she chewed on her cage. I found her at the home and garden show the spring I bought my house via a traveling SPCA booth. She came as a babysitter for Max-my AKC, doggy school drop out. But really-she takes care of all of us. So, I'll take care of those teeth from now on! The good news is that she's spent the last 8 years living in a house, on a princess bed, and I was recently told she looks like a watermelon with legs. I'm putting her on my twenty pounds in three day diet (just as soon as I find it). In the meantime, she is assured daily that blond and curvy is a good thing.