Athena goes to the vet

Athena arrived here on Saturday. She's always been friendly enough, but she spent the first couple of days feeling rather dazed and confused, and generally unhappy. She barked, she whined. She didn't eat. She would constantly go over to the leash she had come with, her leash, as if to indicate that she wanted to go home now.

This was Tuesday when she decided to be my
friend, putting her head over my arm or in my
lap when she wanted attention.

Finally she began to come around and decided that I could be her friend. By Tuesday she was eating again and was figuring out how to get what she wanted and needed from me. I'm glad she decided to trust me because Wednesday we went to the vet. It wasn't just a routine vet visit, it was to see a canine cardiac specialist about her heart murmur. They did some tests and the vet identified three birth defects, all on one side of her heart, that were described as "mild to moderate." The good news is that no treatment was recommended and she has no activity restriction. She can and should be treated as a normal, nine month old Great Dane pup. Her heart rate and rhythm are normal and her lungs were good. She did recommend checking her again when she was fully grown, but said that she might live out her normal life and never experience a problem.

That was obviously good news. It was also good that she handled the vet visit so well. She was comfortable and friendly, her tail was up and wagging. She enjoyed the outing and all the attention.

Back at home she is settling in, eating well, annoying the older dogs, looking for a playmate. I don't have any really good pictures of her yet. She was too distraught the first couple days and too in-my-face since then. It may not matter, though, because someone is already interested in her.