Subscriber Archive
First in a series “Dr. Nichol, Charlie Garcia’s dog Ruby has a stick in her chest. What shall I tell her?” Martha Peterson, our composed client service specialist, had appeared quietly at my elbow. I could feel her presence before she spoke. Emergencies of all kinds seem more common just before closing time. We’d been busy that day with the usual vomiting, coughing, limping pets. I was just finishing a medical record, ready to head home. A stick in her chest? Maybe it was a small stick causing a minor wound but I had known Charlie Garcia for years. She and Ruby shared little in appearance but woman and dog had much in common. Some people become understandably anxious and prone to exaggeration, even hysteria, when their pets are sick. But Charlie and Ruby were calm regardless of the circumstance. I asked Martha to send them in ASAP. It was…
Mick enjoys meeting other puppies and he’s doing it at the right time. Their developing canine brains, between ages 7-12 weeks, has them ready to be socialized with people and other dogs . The Aztec Animal Clinic has these weekly classes for vaccinated puppies so they can learn, during their essential sensitive period, that people and dogs are generally trustworthy. These kiddos have good fun too.
Incarceration-No. Scavenging-Yes! According to our dogs, the great famine could strike anytime. They’re natural predators but, gee, how often can they snag a slow rat in time for dinner? Their fallback is to sniff out delicacies like moldering carrion. But don’t they trust us to deliver the groceries? They’re dogs first and pets second. They assume nothing. You would think that moving in with Diane and Richard would feel like dying and going to heaven for a street dog like Jasper but their human domicile stymied his attempts to self-actualize. This dog, in serious need of honest, canine-specific labor, was an anxious mess when left alone. Maybe if he worked to survive, much as he would in the wild, he could adapt. On most days Jasper’s folks could drop him off for play at doggy daycare. Party animal that he was, he had no problem fitting in with a…
Young Mick is fitting into our family nicely. His toys are lucky to be just toys. With this wild Border collie channeling his inner predator, his whale and sheep would not survive long.
Third in a series Don’t lock him up Bang, bang, ding, dong! Just as Diane walked into the house, finding more of Jasper’s daily carnage, somebody was outside! Fresh scratches on the door, pillows disemboweled, and a reeking fecal pile was no kind of welcome home, especially from this starving beagle they had rescued from the road side. Bang, bang. And who in @#%&* kept banging on the front door???!!! Wishing hard that her husband Richard would arrive – like now – Diane squared her shoulders, stepped over the poop, and opened the door. With chin out, hands on hips, and wearing an imperious glare was Nellie from next door. And she was mad as @#%&*! Diane had already endured a few of her tirades. Jasper’s continual daytime barking and howling had provoked threats of a visit from Animal Welfare. Something had to be done. Adding Jasper to their lives…
Life should be so simple and joyful for all of us. We have named Mick because he ROCKS!
Second in a series Diane and Richard called from the shoulder of I-40 right after Jasper, the roadside beagle, had a desperately needed drink and a snack. If you don’t carry dog food on a road trip a ham sammie from the cooler works just fine. I’d treated their aging miniature poodle for congestive heart failure. We stayed ahead of Mandy’s abnormal heart rhythms and the fluid in her lungs until her 16-year-old ticker just couldn’t sustain life. We had shared that sense of relief when treatment adjustments reduced her symptoms but I always had to remind them that more challenges lay ahead. You could see right through Diane’s denial as her special girl worsened. With tears in her eyes, and Richard’s too, she divulged her chronic depression. Medication and counseling had helped but she feared a slide into darkness when she could no longer hug little Mandy. And of…
Who will win this intense competition? The puppy who comes home with our family in just one week, that’s who. And who will it be? Even we don’t know yet. Stay tuned.
First in a series Simple Cure? Driving home from Amarillo Richard had his eyes on the road while his wife Diane took in an outrageously beautiful New Mexico sunset. That’s when she saw something moving on the roadside. “Hey, Richard – slow down! That’s a hurt dog!” Rather than a tragic accident this was a blessing, and for more than a canine waif. Diane had suffered with depression for years. Following the death of their dog several months earlier her condition had worsened. She had been diagnosed with depression and was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. She had tried to power through and “handle it on her own” but she just wasn’t getting better. Her doctor increased her antidepressant medication dose – a necessary adjustment that only partially alleviated her despair. Really? Over a dog? Absolutely. Pets are that important and fully necessary for many people…