Well, I finally figured out what's been wrong with Kody for the past few days. He has hurt his mouth in some way or maybe a tooth is sore. I doubt it's a cavity or anything like that since he is only two ears old, but who knows.
We tried brushing his teeth (letting him chew on a tooth brush) and I've narrowed it down to the his right side or if you're looking at him the left side of his mouth. I'm fairly certain whatever happened, it happened while he was chewing on a bully stick. I'm also fairly sure that whatever it is it might be hurting him at least somewhat at all times. My best guess is a hard piece of bully got jammed between two teeth because he's doing the kind of licking he does when he's trying to get a piece of rope out from between his teeth.
He can eat his food and kibble fine, but is slow to eat hard cookies. He will only nibble with his front teeth on a bully stick, but seems interested in them, but looses interest when he realizes he can't make much progress with just his front teeth.
I tried to get a look to see if it's something just stuck between his teeth but he clenches down and I can't see. I don't want to try to force his jaw open so I'm going to take him into the vet and let them have a look. It's time for his yearly checkup anyway.
I hate it when he's hurting and I'm helpless to do anything about it. It kills me. I wish I would have figured this out days ago. I wish I would have figured it out while the vet was open. I hate that I have to trust the vet to be gentle with Kody and really figure out what's wrong, because to tell you the truth, I don't really trust that they care or that they will take the time to figure out what's going on. I wish Kody could talk, but I guess it's good that I'm getting a little better at reading him. I never thought owning a dog would be this hard. I know for a fact that it's not this hard for other people.
When you love someone, be it a child or a dog, you hurt when they hurt………it is natural to feel helpless but Kody knows you care!