The Invisible Toad.

A little over two months ago I had adopted a puppy. The mom was some sort of spaniel and the dad was supposed to have been a Saint Bernard. The puppy had paws the size of salad plates. The Principal of my school had adopted the brother from a student and I had seen the puppy in the office. Adorable, soft fuzzy and friendly, I thought, I want one. So The Principal put me in touch with the dog owner and I visited. While the principal's puppy really did look like a miniature Saint Bernard,y the fuzzy, fur ball the owners introduced me to was black and white, rather than brown and white. He looked slightly bigger than his brother but after all it had been a week since I'd seen the principal's pup. This little fuzzball licked my chin and won me over and so I went home with a puppy..

My friends came over to meet him, and we had a naming contest. When they heard the genealogy and saw the pup's feet one of the said, "He's going to be the size of a small pony, so name him Pinto." That's what I did.

We had the usual puppy issues. I lost two pair of high heels before I learned to put my shoes up in the closet and close the door Who is training whom here?. Strangely enough potty training went smoothly. I worked from eight to three, but I was close enough I could run home at lunch and take him out. Someone mentioned that I probably needed to cage him while I was gone and that it might be a good idea to get behavior lessons. I did sign up for the lessons, and Pinto learned quickly, but every week when we went to class we had to get a new collar because he had outgrown the last one. I found a vet two blocks away and did the new puppy exam and followed up with shots and stuff.

I thought we were doing great. He was good company. Loving, funny, almost a clown. I lived alone before Pinto so he became good company. We talked, walked and played. He was a friend. I didn't want to put him in a cage. The apartment was as much his as mine.

That day as I opened my apartment door after a hard day teaching remedial English, I heard Pinto barking his greeting. At four months old he was the size of a Cocker Spaniel and growing every day. So far he played with anything at chair level, but couldn't reach much higher.

I wondered where he would want to walk today. The apartment complex was wooded on one side and commercial on the other. We usually took the woods, but not always.

Then I saw him. His mouth was covered with foam. White sturdy foam. A little dripped onto the carpet, but most of it encircled his muzzle in frozen bubbles.

Of course as a first time pet owner I immediately thought rabies. What should I do. It was to be the commercial route today.

I grabbed Pinto's leash attached it to his collar and ran the two blocks to his Vet. Other people on the sidewalk parted like bowling pins just hit by the ball.

I burst in the door, "He's foaming at the mouth. Rabies."

The owner of a miniature pinzer scooped her pet up and held him over head. The cat began screeching when her owner jammed her back into her crate. The German Shepherd just sat there stoically, his owner frozen in place paying his bill at the counter The vet was busy this afternoon. I hoped I wouldn't have to wait. long.

The clerk came from behind the counter. ushered me into an examination room. "The doctor will be with you in a minute."

Wow! we were getting preferential treatment, and sure enough the doctor entered almost before the clerk closed the door.

"Okay , Miss Pedigo, settle down. It can't be rabies or you would already be bitten. Let me take a look."

He poked and prodded and took Pinto's temperature. "Looks like a nice healthy pup. He has had his puppy shots?"

"Yes, ' I answered. "We've been in for all the required puppy stuff."

"Well he has no infection. His temperature is normal, and he is bright, alert, and friendly."

He thought a minute. "You know I've seen this once before when one of my dogs got hold of a toad. Toads have a poison on their backs. I bet that's what's happened here."

Poison. That was bad news. Was Pinto going to die of Toad Poison. Oh, wait a minute.

"Doctor, I don't think it can be toad poison. Pinto's been locked up all day in an apartment. Where would he have gotten hold of a toad?"

"Oh, they're sneaky things. I bet if you look when you get back you'll find a toad has gotten into your apartment. I'll just give Pinto an antitoxin shot. He'll be fine.", and he gave him a shot . Then he just had to add, "By the way, don't ever come here shouting Rabies again. It frightens the other patients away. " He wasn't smiling when he said it.

I thanked him and slinked out to the counter to pay my bill. "False alarm. False alarm." I reassured the other pet owners. Of course, they smiled politely but I could tell they thought I was stupid.

Embarrassed, I meekly left the office and Pinto and I had a nice leisurely walk back to the apartment. When we got there, I removed the leash and we played tug of war for a bit. After all he needed a reward for being so good at the vet's. I'd be grumpy if I had been poked and prodded like that. Pinto was just his normal clown self.

Then I decided to search for the toad. Nothing in the living room. I thought maybe a super toad had jumped to my second floor balcony and slithered in the sliding glass doors. Yeah sure. I would enter it in a talent show when I found it. Furnace room, kitchen, bedroom no toad. Then I entered my bathroom. There was tooth paste all over the place. Blue and stringy in places, white and foamy in others. Pinto had grown enough to raid the counter by the sink.

Time to buy a crate?