Dog Tales

It happened again. The woman Rick is seeing this morning I called a wench.  

I explained why to Rick.  The hoops I jumped through, her entitled arrogance, how she doesn't return calls when asked etc. 

So after hearing all that this morning he just text me something she said to him.

She told him 'his employee, Peggy, was the best first contact for any company she's ever dealt with. Don't let that one go'

Like I could get fired. If only. Does that make me feel bad that I said those things?

No. She was all of it and worse than I wrote above. 

I sucked it up and kept a smile in my voice until I hung up.

I am Sybil. I am nice and then I hang up and say things to my phone that would make a sailor blush. I should be fired. 

Now it's all about my dog so you can leave if you don't like dog stories.

This week I have seen the writing on the wall with my dog.

My dog Izzy is old. She is 12 now and Labradors don't live much longer.

12-14 is the average. All the labs I know usually pass around 10. So we are lucky to still have her.  But these last two weeks have been difficult to watch play out for me. Rick seems to know what is coming. I only can assume. I don't think she'll be here much more than a year to be honest with you.

Last week when it was in the 70s we took a long walk at lunchtime. Farther than I would normally go but she was loving this and I was letting her take me where she wanted to go. She kept turning around and looking at me she was so happy. Her tail was high and wagging up a storm. I think she smelled every blade of grass along on the way.

I finally realized the time and noticed she was slowing down and we still had to return. Okay, we're going home now and turned her towards home. She had slowed down now even more and I kept telling her to move it along. I have short strides as you can well imagine so if she is walking slower than me, it's barely walking. 

We got to a grassy area and she just laid down. I couldn't get her up. She just laid there. She got up, walked two steps and laid down again. So I sat in the grass with her and rubbed her legs/joints. (she loves this, her eyes roll back, it's funny)

Her arthritis is obviously bothering her. Yes, she takes medication and CBD dog "treats" for this. 

She had never done this before. I got her up, she'd take 2 steps, then lay back down.

I could see our home. (3 blocks more to go) I didn't want to hurry her. Work would be there. I never saw her like this and it scared me. I just sat with her. She got herself up and then walked a bit then laid down again.

I so wish I could have carried her but 78lbs is too much for me to lift. She is still her winter weight which is far more than her summer weight. Either way 70 or 78lbs I can't carry either.

I finally got her to finish the trip home where she came in and laid in her bed and snoozed for a couple of hours. 

Tuesday was a very bad day. I knew she was hurting because she only wants me when she hurts. Every waking moment she wants Rick and can ignore me but something about her being sick or after her surgeries, she wants to snuggle with me. I'm okay with it.

She wouldn't go out all day. She only laid on the floor or her bed and stared at me. She laid on my lap when I got on the floor with her. My sick lap dog. I just pet her and was ready to cry. I was seeing my future here with this dog. I have never lost a dog before so this is going to kill me.

When Rick got home he saw her trying to walk. I told him I had given her the morning medication along with her CBD treat that she gets 3 x a day. 

We may wish to think about 2 a day/12 hrs apart for her arthritis meds per the vet when needed.  I think she needs more for today. She has only been getting it once a day. I think we turned a corner now.

We also had some gabapentin from one of her surgeries and we decided to give her the lower dose one with her dinner. She was so not herself. By 7pm she wanted to go out, she was so much more spritely. We could both tell the pain meds had kicked in. She wanted to walk around her neighborhood. She saw Smudge, a dog she loves, (black lab) and they played a bit.  As much as this ole gal plays these days. 

We honestly don't want her drugged all day but we don't want her in pain either. She tends to get a bit loopy with this gabapentin drug and she has been known to walk into a wall when on it. But this time she didn't. This time she was just her normal self. 

Izzy goes out before bed between 10-11p. That is her last pee and maybe poo and we can all sleep. But now she wasn't going outside. She can no longer go up the steps to get us if she has to go in the night. So I slept on the sofa. She hadn't gone to the bathroom and she can't get up the stairs so either I stayed downstairs or she soiled the wool rug again. Side note: I have a ruggable, they are the washable rugs you may have seen advertised. (awesome!)  It goes in the washer. Does she poo or pee there? Heaven's no, the wool rug that needs to be professionally cleaned is her spot.

She woke me at 3am. I jumped up to get my coat and realized she just wanted some lovin' and did not wish to go out. I tried. So I sat on the floor against the sofa and just let her put her head in my lap and I rubbed her back to sleep. I am certain she was in pain. I was awake all night...again. 

I have not slept much this week because of her. Yesterday she seemed so much better. Then this morning at 5:30a, she came up the stairs to get us. Either she is feeling better or she made the trip because she really had to go. Or both. We both felt bad that she climbed the stairs before we were downstairs but she seemed to be fine. She has been sleeping until 6-6:30 and she has never ever done that her entire life. But this morning was back to her younger self at 5:30a

She is now sleeping all curled in her bed. She looked so cute and when I went to snap a photo she stretched and opened her eyes and lifted her head. She hates my camera in her face. 

She began swimming again now that it's spring. We used to take her every day. 

God she loves the water. But two days in a row were a bit too much for her so now we're doing it every few days. We just have to see how she's doing. 

The darn dog torn her ACL a few years back mid-air as she jumped in the water. She yelped but kept swimming. She came out of the water and collapsed. So we know she will swim in pain so we have to be the ones to control how often and when. 

Her first day this year after her long winter of no swimming was a hoot.

We loaded her in the car. We drove to her pond and she sat up after we stopped.

She made all kinds of grunts and groans because she knew where she was at.

Suddenly, no pain, and she ran to the water as soon as the back door was opened. She ran back and rubbed her face on Rick's thigh. A thank you if you will.

Then she ran to me and did the same. Then she ran back to the water.

She is so happy in the water. Honestly, if she passed after swimming we would know she died one happy puppy. She lives for water and Rick, equally. 

Most of my pics of this dog are of her wet. She loved to perch here to watch the fish. Then she would dive for them. She is so focused it makes me laugh. This was at our lake house. This ramp helped her out of the water up to the dock. 

Again hanging off the boat to stare at the fish. Note the different colors of her coat. Summer she is reddish. Winter she is darker. 

Wet Dog staring at her human dad driving the boat. She is obsessed with him. No one understands until they see them. Trust me it's a bit sickening. (of coure if it were me she was so smitten with it'd be different of course) 😉

She is watching Rick's lure in the water hoping to see that fish caught!

Perched on her favorite mans legs in the water. She rests to catch her breath. If she sees him in the water she will go over, put her legs on his and just rest a spell.  

Wet Happy Dog Smiling

She sees it and is going after it. 

 This below was taken at the lake one day. She swam for 5 hrs. Just going back and forth looking for fish, turtles, and just swimming. When she sees a turtle she will come to get us and point it out. I don't know why, but she does it every time.  She'd get out to rest for a small amount of time and then back in the water. She slept for so long that night I had to make sure she was breathing. When Rick prayed for a water dog he got what he asked for. Now if he could ask for some financial help that would be great!

Then my favorite which I have posted here before. After swimming, we used to throw this on the ground for something different. She doesn't really run these days, more of a chubby shuffle. She really talks back as you can hear here. I think it's funny. The other day when we took her swimming these were the noises she made in the car until we let her out. I imagine she was telling us to hurry the hell up and open the damn door. Her tail was banging the seat she was so happy.