‘Doggie comfort songs’

So a few weeks ago we were all sick, except for the cat. Brent and I were able to deal with our stomach ailments, but poor Toby dog just couldn’t keep his tummy from doing flip-flops.

The Lab was obsessively licking … anything! It started when Brent noticed Toby heaving a bit. Nothing came out of his mouth, but my husband noticed Toby’s bed was soaked. No, it wasn’t urine, but it was clear. I started to get worried.

Toby began to lick the carpet — non-stop! We got him up onto the bed, where he began licking the pillow, the comforter, the towel I used to dry the comforter. He was soaking up the bed so much that I had put that towel underneath him to do double duty, and become his new licking surface. It was weird.

Yes, I’ve heard the saying, “Dog can’t hold his licker,” and Toby is definitely a smoochie poochie. But this was more. He was beyond the borders of canine OCD, and I was sure he hadn’t gotten into anything bad for him (I’m a bit of an obsessed, myself!) So I called the 24/7 emergency vet who assured me as long as he wasn’t vomiting and didn’t have diarrhea, he would likely be just fine.

I still worried.

The vet tech also told me that dogs often lick when they are nauseated, and she thought it was likely that Toby had an upset tummy. She also said sometimes dogs obsessively lick when they’re nervous or uncomfortable. I decided to wait it out and try to get the dog to calm down. I petted him, rubbed his belly, laid down next to him, gave him kisses, sang to him and tried to distract him from the licking.

His “bologna” tongue was really out of control.

Out of nowhere, I heard piano music. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, and then realized my husband’s iPod was the source of the serenade. Since it was dueling with my lullaby for Toby, I asked Brent what he was playing.

“Doggie comfort songs for Toby.”

I smiled and looked at the iPod. My man had hunted YouTube and found, “doggie comfort tunes.” It wasn’t a joke, and I scooted up on the bed and kissed him on the cheek. There’s nothing mom’s love more than seeing their man taking care of her little one. Sweetness overload!

For the record, I think that vet tech was right. We took Toby outside after a while and he went at the grass goat-style, chowing down like a beast. After that, he seemed to be feeling better. And no more licking ;0)