October 26, 2019

White Dog had been part of the discussion with Dr. Julia, Cindy, Steve, and Rosie a veterinary nurse from the beginning. She knew that it had been decided to try something out of the box in order to groom Roman.

Last night Steve set out towels, basins for soapy and rinse water, trimmers, a new muzzle and collar, and a syringe of promace, a sedative, on the kitchen counter. He had been instructed on how to use the drug, its time to kick in and approximate length of effectiveness. It would be injected subcutaneously and take from 15-45 minutes to reach full effect.

After Roman was safely asleep, we would change out his muzzle after a thorough face washing. Then we would trim very long nails; and finally sponge bathe him before putting him into his crate to wake up naturally.

We knew Roman was not about to just allow a shot so we asked our rescue friend, Chris, to come over and provide the extra hands and mobility that I could not. She is experienced with wrangling bigger dogs and has a feral of her own. She took charge of Roman's head, his leash, and the towel to cover his eyes as Steve inserted the shot on his hip. The process took a bit to achieve cooperation from Our Boy. Then Steve and Chris sat on the floor talking to yet ignoring eye contact with him while Roman paced and they waited for the drugs to take effect.

...But they never did. The sedative had absolutely no effect on Roman. Rosie told us that if he wasn't down in 45 minutes, that it was not going to happen and to abort the mission. Chris waited well past an hour. Next week we will regroup for a new plan.

The rest of the White Dog Army spent a lovely mellow Autumn afternoon napping as a result of the calming herbs they had been given to keep them from reacting to Roman who was, during the process isolated in the kitchen. Roman, released into the pack, showed no effects at all. He did not even snooze. He was quiet but certainly not in a place that would encourage us to even try any grooming.

"Baby Boy," I told him. "I do understand your fears. How do we do what is needed and at the same time not violate your security?"

And the is the question we take back to our healer on Monday.