WE ARE ALL PRE Arthritic...I HAVE TOLD THIS BEFORE... SOORRY.... WHEN I WAS TRYING TO BUY AN EVENT HORSE FOR JANINE.... I HEARD OF A QUARTERHORSE... LOOKED GOOD... AND I WAS HAVING COFFEE THAT MORNING WITH CONNIE THIBEAULT-- DVM--- SO OLD, THAT PART OF HIS FAME WAS HAVING AN ALCHOHOL PERMIT WHEN PROHIBITION. WAS IN FORCE... CONNIE WAS A CHARACTER.. IN MY CaREER I HAD SO MANY HORSES "VETTED" AND EVERY TIME FOR LACK OF ANYTHING BETTER , THE VET WOULD ALWaysS LEAVE HIMSELF AN OUT BY SAYING " THIS HORSE IS PRE NAVICULIAR.." --AND THEN YOU WOULD ASK FOR AN XRAy of the. navicular bones in the foot. then one day another horse friend suggested i just throw some item on the film on the ground... just to be sure it was your xrray.... which i did... and my heavens wasn't that the xray film that did not develope correctly so he could not give it to me... which is why i gave up having a horse "vetted" and asked connie to go with me to look at this quarterhorse... AS I STOOD THERE WITH CONNIE WATCHING THE. HORSE MOVE, CONNIE SAID " IF YOU DON'T BUY HIM, I WILL.. OF COURSE YOU KNOW HE IS PRE ARTHRITIC..... WE ALL ARE"
WHICH BRINGS UP CHAOS... GETTING UP THERE.. BUT A GAME OLD GAL.... LAST NIGHT SHE SLID BACK AGAINST THE BACK OF THE SOFA SO HER LEGS WERE SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN THER BACKBONE.... IN A HORSE YOU WOULD HAVE SAID SHE WAS "CAST" .. AND COULD NOT GET HER LEGS UNDER HERSELF .. SO IN AN EFFORT TO GT HER STRAIGHTENED OUT.. AND ALSO IN MY PJ'S I GOT HER FRONT FEET ON THE FLOOOR AND BACK LEGS UNTANGLED FROMT EH FLUFFIES... AT WHICH TIME SHE WALKED OFF AND GOT A DRINK AND WENT TO THE LOWER BED IN THE OFFICE...(AND DO MAKE NOTE.... SHE HAD NOT WET THE BED)
I AM TOLD THERE ARE CP'S WHO ARE SUGGESTING MEDICATION AND LINDA WANTING TO BE A GOOD DOGGIE MOM... ASKED ABOUT THEM..BOTH DRUGS I HAVE HEARD OF BUT NEEDED INFO... ONE A SIEZURE/ PAN MED OFTEN CAUSES DROWSY... THE OTHER SUPPOSED TO BE A JOINT THING WHICH FOR A START MIGHT CAUSE DIARRHEA FOR A WEEK TIL SHE GETS USED TO .
I SUGGESTED NO... WE HAVE AT THE MOMENT A HEALTHY OLD GAL WHO HAD ALOT OF PUPPIES WHO MAY HAVE WEAKENED A FEW CRITICAL MUSCLES ON OCCASION ... ( BUT NOT ALWAYS) ------ TO TREAT WHAT SHE MIGHT DEVELPE. WE STAND A CHANCE OF ADDING DIARRHEA TO THE MESS AND MAKEING A DOG WHO SLEEPS 23 HOURS A DAY.. BECOME DROWSY.????? ..... WE WOULD TEHN HAVE TO GIVE HER SOMETHING TO MAKE HER MORE THIRSTY BECAUSE BEING DROWSY SHE WAS NOT DRINKING ENOUF\GH.... MAYBE CAFFEEN TO WAKE HER UP, A WHOLE BUNCH OF THINGS TO STOP UP HER EXCITED BOWELS. ...
WE WOULD TEHN HAVE TO DO BLOOD STUDIES TO GET A BASE LINE ON SOMETHING -- AND THEN CHECK THEM EVERY 6 MONTHS.... THERE WOULD BE NO END.
WELL.. THERE IS AN END... AND SHE IS NOT THERE YET.... PLEASE..... YOU GIVE A DOG A HAPPY LIFE AND WHEN IT IS OVER ,AND SLEEP WOULD BE PREFERRED, THEY WILL TELL YOU.
WHAT YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO IS LET WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN RUIN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DOG.. WHICH I HAVE SEEN FAR TOO OFTEN.
WHICH THEN BRINGS US TO BENTLEY..... PERFECTLY HEALTHY EXCEPT FOR HIS MASCULINE APPENDAGES... WHICH I HAVE BEEN "WATCHING "FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS... HOWEVER... THESE HAVE GOT SOOOO BIG THAT HE SOON MIGHT TRIP OVER THEM--- AND HE IS PERFECTLY HEALTH OTHERWISE... SO WE ARE GOING FOR EITHER SURGERY OR PRE OP TOMORROW... AND I KNOW THE VET WILL TAKE ONE LOOK AND SAY "WHATY ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING???"
AND I WAS THINKING... WITH THAT AILMENT HE MIGHT NOT LAST LONG... AND HE WAS/IS COMFORTABLE..... HOWEVER... THE PURE SIZE IS FORCING THE ISSUE.
STAY TUNED....
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Hi Carlene,
Your recent DD made me think about leashes, and an encounter during our quick trip to NYC this week...
I essentially never use Seagram’s leash because there is no need. I am constantly talking to her and that communication works so well! And she knows right from left better than I do, so it’s rather funny when I accidentally say “turn right, please” but my body begins heading left, so of course she heads left, too — and sometimes when this occurs, she will break her typical vigilant surveillance of the path forward to look up at me with this “silly human” look ever-so-briefly, to remind me that she knows better than I do :)
...so because she is much smarter than I am, and we communicate well, I can leave the leash threaded through a loop on her harness. The only time we use the leash is when there is a “hand off” — like when my husband handles her while I do an MRI. I take the leash out of its’ loop and hand it to my husband, to signal that she should go with him as I ask her to do so. She looks at me, concerned, so I promise to be extra careful without her, and she reluctantly turns to go with my husband. However, as we say goodbye, I always ask her to “watch over Daddy,” since I know she is the smarter of the pair ;)
On to the little story:
Seagram and I were in NYC, walking back from Radiology. I stopped off to the side on the sidewalk because I had to contact my doctors office, so they could enter an order for a procedure that I had to urgently schedule. It was nearly closing time there, and this could not wait until the next day because we were in the city so briefly. Seagram was less than a foot away from me, as is usual.
An elderly woman approached, leaning heavily on her stroller (and with no child in there, I think it was a stroller for her dog, a little ball of white fluffy fury straining at the leash, as though the dog was propelling this woman down the street with its’ energy because the elderly owner had so little of her own). She glared at me from about 10’ away, but I pretended not to notice as I messaged the doctor’s office...
“Is your dog on a leash?” she questioned in a nasty tone, when it was obvious that Seagram had a leash, but that I was not holding onto it at the moment because both hands were on my phone as I typed — all the while the white fluffy dog was sputtering as it strained on its’ leash from now about 8’ away. It was actually quite funny to compare stately Seagram, standing perfectly peacefully next to me, with this angry dog the size of her head, that the owner could barely control.
“She is wearing a leash,” I stated matter-of-factory, as I briefly looked up, trying not to engage.
“Well, you know, your dog has to be on a leash...” and she went on, and on, while I was still typing.
So I walked Seagram to the other side of the sidewalk, which was quite wide, wide enough to get out of the path of the woman and the nasty little dog, mostly out of concern that Seagram might get nipped at the heels — and of course I walked using the handle on the harness, not the leash. I placed Seagram on the other side of me, so if the dog acted out, I could hopefully intervene, although I wasn’t sure how.
As we were walking, I said, “Don’t lecture me about leash laws, when my dog is perfectly under control, while you can barely manage yours on a leash.” And after briefly noting the shock on her face, I looked down to finish the last sentence of my message to the doctor’s office.
They walked by us in the other direction, and when they were several feet past us, the little fury turned around and started snarling with all the force its’ little body could muster. “Well there you go, there’s going to be trouble,” the woman said ominously...
I just wanted to laugh, and I think Seagram did too, as though she was thinking, “See that dog? I guess we’re kinda related — just like that obnoxious distant, distant cousin that you have to invite over occasionally for holidays, even though you have nothing in common.” Ok, maybe I embellished there, but Seagram clearly thought that dog’s behavior was inappropriate.
“There is no trouble, my dog is perfectly behaved,” I replied, holding back what I really wanted to say because as a service dog handler, I am on good behavior — or at least, I really try to represent SD handlers well. Finally I hit “send” to the doctor’s office and we walked on, still hearing that nasty dog in the background for a little while.
I was incredibly proud of Seagram, as I told her while we walked, and thanked her for being such a professional — and I am always so proud of her!
