Sick Puppy

If you know me, you are aware that I am not what they call an animal person.  Not the one to coo in front of the SPCA outlet in the mall or to pet every dog I see when walking mine.  It's not that I am against them, actually I am quite fond of them especially in the form of coats, belts and boats.

Today however I experienced the epitome of emotional turbulence surrounding my pet.  My head split into two parts:  compassionate and annoyed.  On our early morning walk, the dog experienced constipation.  Understanding what my husband does for a living, you know who made the diagnosis.  Actually the dog squatting with his back and tail arched, while he did a little two step hop across the lawns of Ashland, gave us the first clue.  He continued like this for about 20 minutes.  Keep in mind it is cold out and I was losing patience (annoyed) but I did feel sorry as he looked like he was in pain (compassionate).  Eventually he was...how shall I say... a bit successful in his endeavor.  Now he is having trouble and making quite a mess of himself.

I can't let him in the house while he is doing this.  So he stays outside while my husband and I take a shower ( Sounds like we did that together - not today, too much to do).  Anyway, we come downstairs and the dog us outside; he has made a mess of himself but is shivering from the cold.  My fabulous husband cleans the dog, brings him in and goes off to work. Hopefully this is not a prelude for the rest of his work day.

I decide to work in the kitchen today so as to keep an eye on the pet.  Well he starts "messing" the kitchen.  I rush to take him outside.  Now he has made another mess of the backyard and himself.  I go outside, shovel the yard and clean the patio.  Now I try to clean the dog.  As I do that, he proceeds to bite me. Of course no one is available to fix this, so I need to take care of it.  Ugh.

I bring the dog in the house, take him into the basement washroom and give him a soak in a hot bath.  If you have tried to wash your pet, you will know this is not an easy or clean task.  While bathing him, he bites me two more times. Maybe I should just leave him in the tub (annoyed).  I proceed to lather him up with my specialty shampoo (could not find dog shampoo in the house because we take him to the groomer for baths).  Dry off the dog, place him in his bed and finally get to go back to work.

Kid wakes up and we both go upstairs to check on the cleanliness of his room - its not, surprise surprise. Unfortunately we left the kitchen door open, the dog followed and proceeded to make a mess in my son's room.  Grab him and take him outside AGAIN.  Kid cleans up the room.  I am back to dog sanitation.

Dog is shaking now. We cover him with a blanket and Max holds him trying to make him feel better.  Now the dog is looking bad.  He is moaning.  Max gets the blow dryer and proceeds to dry him off.  Keep in mind he has only been outside for 5 minutes tops.  Dog then proceeds to vomit all over the place.  I get to clean up the floor, the kid and the dog.

I text the husband for help.  He is operating and not coming home.  I go online to see what is wrong with the dog. No clue, call the vet.  Max continues to hold him - we switch off (compassionate).  We finally calm the dog down and now he seems exhausted.  He is resting by my feet as I work and gets up to follow me whenever I get up. I let him sit on my lap as I type (compassionate).  We decide to keep an eye on him tonight and call the vet if anything changes.  Looks like I will be bringing him in this week.

Dog seems ok now but will have to wait until tomorrow to be sure.  This all took place before 9:30 am. Plan on rewashing, polishing the hardwoods after work and buying a new dog bed.  As much as that dog annoys  me, I love him as part of the family and although I am disgusted by the clean up, I am relieved that he is resting comfortably.  Maybe I am more of an animal person than I thought...no, I am not.

After thinking about it, this is the perfect end of year metaphor.  Cleaning up the sh#$ but relieved that everyone is ok.