Neither Jackie nor Jillie, our sibling pups, will have been inspired to write in their daily diaries their impressions of a wonderful day they experienced yesterday.

Each of them took turns feeling ill, to introduce the morning. Jillie would never refuse breakfast, irrespective of how she may feel, and she did not this time around. Jackie can be relied upon to reject food when he's feeling under the weather, and that's just what he did yesterday morning. But the sun was out and warming the atmosphere and they were briefly comfortable soaking it up on the deck.

So perhaps that was somewhat helpful in view of the fact that we embarked in the early afternoon on a trip to the west end where we've been taking them to one of the city's veterinarian hospitals that is also on call 24 hours a day and where, over the years, when emergencies have arisen with our pups, we've taken them, as little patients. And because they also operate as a regular veterinary clinic, we decided we'd take them there to be looked after by one of the veterinarians with whom we'd become somewhat familiar.

We found it just too painful to take these newer additions to our family to the veterinarians that had previously been relied upon to help us look after the health of our previous little companions over the years.

Over the winter months we'd taken to infrequently having them with us when we'd go out somewhere where we had to drive and consequently they seem to have become unaccustomed to being in a vehicle. When they were very young they had a tendency to become upset when being driven somewhere, but we'd thought that had been overcome.

Yesterday, because the veterinarian hospital we now frequent (not too frequently; last trip was a year ago for their annual physical) is located some good distance from home, they were driven for a longer period than when we just gad about close to home. And they were distinctly uncomfortable. It was a very cold, windy and sunny day, and because of their black coats the sun shining into the confines of the cab of the truck made them uncomfortable.

Once at the hospital and seated in the waiting room, they were unhappy because they remembered the place, and not the least bit fondly, so they were restless and Jackie was hostile to the presence of other dogs. When we finally left the hospital and headed uptown to drop briefly by Byward Market, I opened the window as we drove to admit fresh air hoping that would help, and Jackie promptly threw up.

Their relief when we finally drove home and arrived in the driveway of our house was palpable. Mirroring the relief we also felt, because the entire enterprise had turned into a real ordeal. Now we're wondering how they'll react when we begin to once again undertake long trips with the entrance of spring and summer. Guess we'll have to begin reintroducing them to the prospect.