dogs don't look both ways

The first day i visited our dog, now an in-patient in the animal hospital, i wanted to cry. But I didn't cry.

Joey's veterinarian, Dr. Kiko, had led me down the long halls of the animal medical center into the Critical Care Unit.  We passed in fromt of some cages with dogs inside, and then stopped. I looked down, and in.  First I saw his big brown face struggling to look up at me. Big brown eyes struggling to stay open. Joey!  I noticed his condition. I wanted to cry.  But in spite of it, Joey saw me and was making a grand effort to let me know he was happy to see me: I saw and heard the feeble thump thump thump of his (once) powerful tail on the floor of the pen: Smile! And Keep on smiling! Keep the message of love and joy going between us.

 

Joey was not the weak self-pitying type of dog (if indeed there even is a self-pitying type of dog). Joey is Mr. Happy, so that's how we had to be.  So I asked, "May I go in?"  And Dr. Kiko opened the door to Joey's pen, and I lowered myself down, and crawled right into Joey's pen, crawling through the IV tubes and vital sign-monitoring lines to sit by his side. "Good boy, Joey!" Joey, we're still buds! Again and again I think: We are sooooo lucky! We are soooo blessed! 

It really startled my husband and me when we heard Dr. Kiko refer to Joey as "my patient". I never thought that a dog could have that status; but why not?  Dr. Kiko told us how proud he was to have such a wonderful "patient" and "all the other doctors are congratulating me on having such a wonderful patient." Wow! Blow my mind! Do veterinarians really have this atittude toward their animals?  Talk about humane!  It was so reassuring for my husband and me to know this and we could relax with the knowledge that Joey's doctors truly felt responsibility for him and caring his well-being.

Going to the animal medical center also changed another aspect of my notion of my relationship with Joey, and my attitude toward him.  At the animal hospitals when I bring Joey in, the personnel say "Are you Joey's mom?" Geeze, I do not see myself as Joey's "mom".  But after the accident, I began to see myself as his friend, his guardian, his owner, as a person he entrusts his life to.  And I began to see Joey as my husband's and my companion. I recognized that I did enjoy this dog (even if he was overbearing, and an attention-hog). 

Some people see their dogs as their children. No way. Let's set the record straight: Joey is 10 years old and in dog years that means he is over 60, which means that he is older than either my husband or me!

Buddies. Running buddies. My husband says, about Joey, "I hope we run again soon." That relationship that exists and has existed between only the two of them, for years, running buddies, early each morning, sometimes before daybreak, when only the crazy joggers and their dogs, the bunnies and the birdies are out, in the cold and rain...I hope that gap will be filled. I hope Dad's running partner will come back to us! But still, if Joey can't run again, we're still lucky. We're still blessed.

Though it was always in the back of our minds when Joey escaped, we never actually expected our dog would be run over by a car.  No dog owner does.  We don't anticipate the medical emergencies we may have when we are buying that cute puppy dog to be a companion to ourselves or to our children or throwing the ball into the lake and watching our dog jump in and  fetch.  But we are also taking on a huge responsibility when we adopt a dog or become their owners or parents. 

And when the dog is ill or injured, everybody in our family has to change his routine a little. Vacations may have to be put on hold. The animal care is an unanticipated expense. We have to spend lots of money. We have to purchase dog gates and rearrange furniture. The family reconfigures, in many ways around the dog and his or her needs.

In the future, we still have to take  account of the fact that Joey is a dog and that he has a keen sense of smell and loves people and attention and running and being free and other dogs and that he he loves to dig his way out and that he will probably not learn his lesson because all of the above is his nature. We will have to deal with that and make some decisions.

In the meanwhile, Joey continued to improve and write his blog! I enjoy reading his blog. Our dog shows us a dog's perspective on this side of life. As Dr. Tamara said, "He's trying to tell us something" and Joey's blog teaches us how to listen to hear what it is he is trying to say when he's injured and when he's healthy.

I spend a lot of time in the animal hospitals, in the lobbies, in the examining rooms. I've spoken to so many children and adults - and when it comes to understanding dogs, children really are the voice of adults: When one little girl asked, "Didn't he look both ways?" I had a feeling that she was not only asking for herself but for adults (It's okay; you can ask!) who just don't understand that dogs are dogs and humans are humans and what that distinction invariably means.

Please continue with "Getting to the Truth".

Enjoy reading my dog's blog and please comment! Joey would really love to hear from you and be your friend!