A boy, a girl and a lab named Layla: The Vet and a Medieval town? Now that's what I call a Saturday!

Ah the joys of parenting.

Today, Nate and I took Layla to her first vet appointment. She behaved exactly as we expected.

Sort of.

We didn't have any problems in the waiting room, which was great. Although I think it was probably because the only other animal was a cat who was snoozing in its carrier. She even got on the scale in the waiting room after some slight nudging - or being carried (details, details) - and stayed still so that we could all see that she weighs...

24 pounds.

What the heck has she been eating? It didn't help that her stomach looked a little bloated...Or the fact that later we saw a puppy four times her size (granted, it had fluffy hair) who only weighed 23 pounds. One thing is for sure, Layla is solid. Muscle, fat, whatever - she's thick.

So we get back in the room and the vet asks us all the standard questions. We were actually only there for a shot, but ended up with a toe nail trim as well. She showed us exactly where to cut, which was nice because the last thing I want to do is cut her nails to short and hurt her.

Especially since she already doesn't like it.

Poor thing. At one point, Nate had her pinned down and then the vet had her pinned and then I had one of her legs. I think the vet mentioned something about obedience training, but I tried to tune it out. She's only 11 weeks for crying out loud!

And of course, things just got worse. The vet noted her bloated stomach - oops - but agreed that we were feeding her the right amount (although she did recommend we cut back a bit). She also suggested that Layla has worms.

Say what?!

Now, our breeder told us that she had been de-wormed before we brought her home (apparently, all puppies are born with worms), but the vet said her bloated belly was a strong indication of worms. So she recommended we give her the de-worming meds. She said it wouldn't hurt her if she'd already been de-wormed and if she hadn't, it would take care of the problem.

Being the caring parents that we are, we agreed.

Of course, the vet said oh puppies and kittens LOVE this stuff. It's got a vanilla flavor to it and she'll just suck it right from the syringe.

Uh huh.

Right.

Our darling puppy takes one lick and starts squirming like a wild beast. She does NOT like it. So the vet says too bad, yanks her mouth open and squirts the stuff in. It's all over Layla's face and later in the afternoon she had a yellow crust around her nose. It looked like she had gotten into a cup of yogurt.

But wait, that's not all folks!

She also needed the second of three booster shots. The vet asks us to hold the front end while she pokes her in the side.

Uh huh.

Right.

Haven't we learned our lesson by now?

So she sticks her once and Layla pulls away. She sticks her twice and Layla again pulls away. She sticks her three times and AGAIN she pulls away. This time was especially bad because when the vet pulled it out, it squirted on Nate's leg. We're lucky she didn't stick Nate! Finally, she got all of the meds into Layla.

Oh and the icing on the cake?

Layla starts licking the floor where the meds spilled and the vet says, "Oh look she's licking up the vaccine off the floor - see she'll be just fine"

Needless to say, by the time we got in the car I was ready for some hand sanitizer.

A lot of hand sanitizer.

Her next vet appointment is July 20. The vet said she hopes she's better prepared for her shots. Right, like we're going to practice sticking our dog with needles. Who is this lady?

To treat ourselves after that experience we decided to go to Rothenburg, the medieval town about an hour and a half away.

We strapped Layla into her harness. Side note: We bought her a doggy harness so she has a seatbelt in the car. HAHAHA. See below. Believe it or not, she actually likes it and stays calm while you put it on her. For a dog who doesn't like a leash, she sure loves a harness.

We get to the town and decide to walk along the main area with the shops and restaurants where all of the tourists are. Now we know that Layla is adorable. She just is. But we didn't expect the overwhelming German/American tourist love that she got.

It just goes to show you, people love dogs.

We were stopped - no joke - about every five minutes. EVERY five minutes. It would start with one person and turn into a family and then turn into a tour group.

Everyone wanted to pet Layla. They all wanted to know how old she is. They all wanted to take pictures. Yes, that's right, there were tourists actually taking pictures of our puppy on their vacation. We're going to have our puppy in someone's European Vacation 2009 scrapbook.

Our dog has paparazzi.

Some of my favorite lines heard from people who stopped to pet her:

"Thanks for letting me pet her. You just made my holiday."

"Oh she looks just like her mom" - Okay, WHAT?! I didn't get this once - I got it TWICE. I know I was wearing brown too, but really?

"Mom, can I have a puppy?" -- Oops!

"You bought her here? How will you get her home?"

"I love you."

It's too bad I don't trust some of Nate's single friends to watch Layla for extended periods of time. They could walk her down a busy street and have dates for the next two weeks.

Now, Nate is much better at this than I am. We were there for almost three hours and by two, two and a half, my patience was wearing thin. People were constantly stopping us, she was scrounging for food on the ground (with her bloated belly!) and she would often just stop and wait for people to come up to her to give her attention - she is a ham.

She's cute and she knows it.

Lord help us all.

Side note: I now feel a little more empathy for celebrities who are constantly stopped in the street. The whole time we were there I felt like people were watching us and sure enough, they were. Young, old, male, female - it didn't matter. Even babies were hanging out of their strollers to look at Layla. Good thing I wasn't in sweat pants and a hoodie with my Starbucks - People magazine photogs may have snapped my pic!

Eventually, we made it back to the car in one piece. We strapped Layla in and drove home. She slept the whole way home and hasn't stopped. Apparently, being the center of attention is exhausting.