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Archive for October, 2014

Shunning

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I am starting to believe it’s a sliding scale; that the number of days we leave Brodie at his ‘doggie resort’ the number of days of shunning Mark and I get when he returns home. Allow me paint you a picture:

We drive 2 hours to drop Brodie off at a ‘resort’ that was recommended to us by some friends. All the ‘housewives’ in an affluent community in Northern California take their dogs there for the lengthy summer vacations and the less lengthy ski weeks, holiday weekends, etc. What I’ve come to find out is that the housewives actually pay a pick-up/drop-off fee to the resort so they don’t spend time in the car commuting the ridiculous drive out to their facility. They live MUCH closer, and even they won’t take the time to drive the 30-45 minutes into the boonies to drop their family pets. Not that I am bitter, I want a safe and happy place for Brodie to stay while we are on vacation, but I do loath the drive to/from.

While on the drive out to the resort Brodie is his normal car riding self; lounging, trying to climb into the front seat, staring at people as we drive by, general busy body behavior, sleeping if he should feel like it. The minute we turn onto the country road that completes the last 1.5 miles of the drive, and cross a few cattle gates, he sits up, sniffing the air, a knowing look comes into his eyes. At first he sniffs to assess, then it gets stronger, and the whining starts, because he knows he is close. If there was as window to his mind it would only say one word – JOY!

When we arrive he is out of the car like a shot, goes right into the hands of his favorite ladies who will spend the bulk of their days caring for, and never, ever looks back. He gets signed up for his ‘excursions’ – typically we pick swimming, hikes, or ocean trips for him. One a day is all he needs, that plus the yard time to play with the other dogs keeps him very busy. Their schedule is tight and all the dogs are in bed by 7:00 PM.

It does feel good to leave knowing he will be well cared for, happy, and exercised regularly while we are gone. I literally don’t even think about him for the time we are on vacation, and I know he isn’t thinking about us.

The joy and excitement of going to the facility have an equal yet opposite reaction upon pick up. I try not to take it personally, but his behavior is awful.

  • Initial excitement to see us, followed quickly by a realization that he has to leave this super-duper-fabulous-life
  • Begrudgingly gets into the car
  • Pouting
  • Won’t look at us
  • Gets home and keeps to himself
  • Doesn’t want to be pet or touched
  • Sleeps and/or lounges outside
  • Ignores us for the most part
  • Won’t eat

This behavior continues for 2-3 days until he finally wakes up one morning realizing he is staying here and he might as well adjust to life as normal. The most we’ve left him at the resort is 14 days, and his reentry home was horrible. This time, 10 days and it took him 3 days to ‘talk’ to us again. So the math I’m going forward with is: 33% of the time he spends at the facility will be dosed to us as the “shunning period” upon his return. I suppose it’s worth it, to make sure he is happy and well cared for, but truly it’s hard on my heart to be shunned by my brown baby!

Shunning

He won’t even look at me!

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To poison or not to poison – that is the question?

Posted in Uncategorized on October 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Every month I go through a personal struggle related to poisoning my dog. Specifically I’m speaking about flea & tick and heartworm medication. I have Brodie on both medicines, but I hate it. I justify it in my mind always with the following internal dialogue:

Heartworm – as much as he swims and is exposed to open bodies of water he has an increased exposure to mosquitos therefore heart worm. A ‘tax’ (if you will) on his swimming life, he is forced to pay it by consuming one heartworm tablet per month. I know in my mind the risk and reward is balanced. He is exposed and he needs to take the tablets to protect against getting a horrible canine disease.

Canine heartworm

Canine heartworm

Flea & tick – as active as Brodie’s lifestyle is; running, parks, travel, etc… he is exposed to fleas & ticks everywhere. Earlier in his life before putting him on this regimen, I removed some very large ticks from his belly. So I know, that he is exposed, at perhaps a higher level than most backyard dogs.

fleas

Flea

The internal dialogue in my mind justifies giving him these medicines. BUT my heart drops to every time I FORCE myself to dispense him the doses. Its sad, Brodie pouts, he slinks around and rubs his back all over every surface that is his height to try to rub off the liquid poison that I place directly on his skin. When I give him the tablet he looks at me with a soulful set of eyes and forces himself to chew the tablet – knowing that I am standing there waiting for him to consume it. The emotional factor of dispensing and consuming these meds weighs heavily on both of us. I carry my guilt around for a day or two, but then it’s forgotten for another 28 days.

This struggle is monthly and I hate it. Brodie has a wide variety of emotional expressions and I take them too much to heart. I am also aware that he likely is reading and playing off of my emotions and giving me the response I want versus something that is genuine from him. I GET ALL OF THAT – but even in my ‘aware’ state, I still struggle giving him these meds. I ‘feel’ like I am poisoning my dog – that is the core of the issue. Every month I make sure my emotions are overridden by the logical fact that a dog as active as him needs these medicines to sustain his active and healthy lifestyle. In the end, I chose poison and therefore a healthy Labrador.

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