Texas Equine Veterinary Association

www.texasequineva.com | 26 Rabies drive Bo Brock, DVM, DABVP Brock Veterinary Hospital, Lamesa, Texas Every so oen we put on a rabies drive to raise money for a group such as the pre-vet club from a nearby College or an animal shelter. We lower the cost of a rabies shot by a whopping one dollar over what we normally do it for at the clinic. Yes, one dollar. Who do you think shows up for these events? Well, I will tell you, it is three people types: 1. People that don't have even one extra dollar. 2. People that want to save a little money while helping out a cause. 3. Rich people that are too tight to part with even one single dollar. Regardless of which of those three types we are talking about, they all want to show up first. I have never understood that, if the rabies drive starts at ten and goes to 2, one hundred people will show up at ten and there wont be another soul aer the first hundred have passed through. Today was no different. We started at ten and there were one hundred people of those three types standing in line across the parking lot of the vet clinic. Have you ever really considered what it is like when those three types of humans, with the types of dogs that comes with those types of humans, stand in line in single file for an extended period of time? Cast of characters: Harley – Half Labrador Retriever half basset. Has the head and body of a lab and the legs of a basset. You can just guess which people type he belonged to. Prissy – Extremely short nosed Pekinese, spoiled rotten, hyperexitable. You can just guess which people type she belonged to. Dr. Zach Smith – Recent graduate, first rabies drive ever for him. Dr. Dan ompson – Fourth year veterinary student from Iowa State. We had organized the process where Dr. Smith was giving the vaccination and Dr ompson and myself were getting people to fill out the proper paper work while they stood in line. ings were going well but Dr. Smith was getting a bit behind, so I stepped in for a few minutes to help out with deworming while he continued to give shots. Suddenly I heard a giant cheer come from the parking lot where the waiting patrons were lined up. It was one of those cheers that was followed by loud talking and laughing and a buzz of excitement. I was interested to see what was happening, but prissy the short nosed rich dog was a few places back in line and all the excitement and cheering was making her nervous and her preppy owner wanted me to talk to her for a minute and calm her down. So I stopped heading out the garage door that opens out the back of our clinic and rubbed prissy's head for a minute and talked some baby talk. It worked, she calmed down and wagged her tail a few times just as Dr. ompson rounded the corner shouting for me to come out to the parking lot, he had something amazing to show me. So amazing that everyone in line had let out this raucous cheer. Dr. ompson is a character. And I mean he is a hoot and a half. During his progression down the line getting people to begin the paper work process, he came across Harley the bassa-lab. When Harley saw Dr. Dan, he got very excited (probably because he had not le the back yard since the rabies drive last year) and took a poop. is was no normal dog poop. It was an amazing one. Dr. Dan had supposed it was the longest unbroken strand of continuous dog poop the world had ever seen, so he got a stick and uncoiled it. Just picture with me if you will, a hundred people forming a circle, watching a fourth year veterinary student from Iowa unroll a giant pile of dog poop. When he got it uncoiled into a straight line, he came back into the clinic where I was to get a tape measure so he could go back and get the true length. When the final coil was removed, the surrounding rednecks and their associates, let out a massive cheer as they viewed the masterpiece Dan had created. Dan was explaining the situation to me as we hurried back across the parking lot, tape measure in hand, to get some sort of Guinness book of world record measurement. I was flabbergasted. What in the world was this guy thinking measuring a dog turd in the parking lot of a rabies drive? What are all the people going to think of us as professionals? Good night, who measures a dog turd length? Wow, what is Prissy's owner gonna think when she sees us measuring dog poop? A hush gathered over the on-lookers as Dan shimmied out a few inches at a time on the tape measure. Ten inches, then fieen inches, next twenty five inches, and finally...32.5 inches was shouted out by Dr. Dan in a tone of total triumph. e crowd went wild. Let's go back in to the clinic now and see what was happening as the crowd screamed with joy over the final proclamation on Harley's turd. Turns out, at just that moment, Dr Smith was sliding the needle under the skin on the back of Prissy's neck to give the vaccination. e stress of the vaccination, coupled with the high decibel roar coming from the parking lot was just too much excitement for the rich dog's system. When I came back around the corner, I discovered Dr. Smith holding Prissy up at eye level to himself with a concerned look on his face. e dogs owner was looking out the garage door with all the rest of the people there, but Zach was not looking anywhere but at the face of Prissy. en I saw it. Prissy's eye had popped out. Dr. Smith had never seen anything like that in his life. I guess all of the excitement of the moment had got the bug eyed short nosed critter's blood pressure up enough that it just popped that eyeball out of it's socket. Once again we had to stop the rabies drive to take Prissy in the clinic and fix the problem. e moral of the story is hard to find. If there is one, I think it may be this: Don't have a crappy outlook on life. at may be a little to corny.

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