Saturday 26 November 2011

The Judgemental Idiot Part 2

To say I was freaked out by this idiot, is an understatement. I was panicking. I didn’t like the fact that this guy took pictures of us. It was creepy. I wasn’t worried about Chili in the pictures, I knew she would be wearing her goofball happy face. By the time I got home I was a wreck. I called Brad and told him about what happened. It took a bit for me to get it out between the tears. I’d never experienced anything like this before and I had no idea how this kind of thing went. I didn’t know if the people at the pound were idiots or reasonable people, this might go bad for Chili. People are people and you just never know who you’re dealing with. It was worse because I had no clue as to what the rules and guidelines were for warnings about your dog. Brad felt that the best plan was for me to call the pound and tell them about what happened. We didn’t have anything to hide from. He was right.

So, I called the pound and told them the story. I had a lump in my throat the whole time. They asked if Chili was off leash. No, she wasn’t. They asked if she had done her business and I didn’t pick it up. No. I had to tell them about the day before, and how Chili sometimes lunges at other dogs when she’s on leash. I didn’t want to tell them, but I had to be up front. I told them the guy said he had already phoned them and started the complaint process. The pound guy asked his colleague if it sounded familiar and he said no. To their knowledge nobody had phoned about us. He did comment that it sounded strange that the guy was walking towards us taking pictures and that it must have made me uncomfortable. It did make me uncomfortable. I kept looking over my shoulder the whole way home. I told them that we felt it was better for them to be able to find us right away if they had to, rather than driving around hunting for us. I gave him my name and phone number and left it at that.

Now, I have very mixed feelings about this. You see, I stopped going for the morning walks. Some have said that he had no right to keep me from walking up that road and if it was them, they would continue walking by his house every morning. Yes, they’re right. He doesn’t own the road. Believe me, I would love to march up and down that road a dozen times a day and see what he has to say. However, this isn’t about me. I need to set my pride and ego aside and do what’s best for Chili. If we had kept walking up that road, it would have enraged a person who is already unreasonable and a bully. It might push him to go further, and Chili would be the victim. If he wants to sit on his couch, all puffed up and proud, about how he bullied that girl with the ‘vicious’ dog and pat himself on the back for how he’s such a hero because he saved his neighbourhood from us, then so be it. I can be proud that I made the choice that was right for my dog.

Interesting how people choose to see the world. How is it that this guy decided we were a menace to society, while an elderly man in a scooter with his little dog would stop, say hi, and give Chili treats.

It’s been over 8 months now since this incident and nothing has come from it. This proves that along with many other things, this man is also a liar. He achieved his goal and now I’m pretty sure he feels more powerful for it. No matter. If Karma is real, he’ll face her one day, and I’m quite certain she has no tolerance for 2 legged creatures who threaten 4 legged ones. He’s all yours girl.

Saturday 19 November 2011

The Judgemental Idiot Part 1

As you know, I have no tolerance for judgemental idiots. I thought I’d already run into my share of them, I was soooo wrong. Chili and I had started doing morning walks. We’d walk around the corner and up a road, which is a very steep hill, and then back to the house. I really enjoyed our morning walks. It was quiet, we got a good workout, we would always watch for the neighbourhood deer, we knew all the neighbourhood dogs. Chili was used to the routine and would simply walk by everything with a bit of interest. It was beautiful.

One Sunday, the three of us were walking the regular morning route. As we were approaching the bottom of the hill, I saw a man with his dog. I recognized the dog from our morning walks because it would usually be out in its yard when we would walk by. There was also someone walking behind us with their dog. At that time, we were still having a problem with Chili lunging. She would do it probably 90% of the time. Of course Chili lunged at the dog. Typically I would walk Chili but if she started to lunge, Brad would grab the lead. Not because I couldn’t manage her, but let’s face it, he’s stronger and can manage her with one hand. We got her under control and kept walking. As we were heading up the hill I turned around and saw both men talking to each other. Other than that, we had a great walk.

On Monday morning, Chili and I set out for our morning walk. It was a beautiful and cool morning. We went to the top of the hill, saw the deer and the morning dogs. On our way back down, I saw a man walking out of his driveway towards me. It looked like he wanted to talk to me, then I saw a camera in his hand. I wasn’t really sure what was happening at first, then I could hear the camera clicking....he was taking pictures of us. Out of nowhere, he launched into a speech about how he’d already phoned the pound and they know all about us. That he’s talked to the whole neighbourhood about how Chili is a vicious dog and nobody wants us around. He kept repeating that she’s vicious. Now, if you know anything about Chili, you’d know that she loves people. So as he was telling me how terrible she was, she was pulling forward, trying to go say hello to him. Since I was holding her back, she was rearing up on her back legs. He proceeded to take more pictures and was telling me, “see, see, she’s vicious, see.” I told him that she wasn’t vicious, she loved people, and simply wanted to go over to him and say hello. He told me that she’s so bad, that it takes two people to hold her back and that she wanted to kill his dog. (He was referring to our walk by yesterday)

It took everything I had to stay calm. You can’t reason with a crazy, self-righteous person on a bullying power trip. I told him that she wasn’t vicious, she gets along fine with other dogs, in fact she’s surrounded by them when she’s at daycare, she’s never been in a fight, she’s never bitten another dog, I’m working hard with her, etc, etc. Every word I would say, he would follow it with, “I doubt that”. He said the pound told him to talk to me and take pictures. (This, is talking to me??) He was then going to submit a formal report against Chili. I asked him why he wanted to make trouble for us, why he’s never just talked to me, why he’s making assumptions when he doesn’t know anything. Of course he didn’t have any answers. I told him to do whatever he felt he needed to do, and I walked away.

I kept looking over my shoulder as we walked home. I was afraid he would follow us. If I saw anyone behind me, I would have walked the other way and called Brad to pick us up. My adrenaline was pumping and I could barely think. All I knew was this guy wanted bad things for Chili, and I wasn’t going to allow it. Now what?

Saturday 12 November 2011

The Mysterious Limp Part 3

It was painful for us to watch Chili being so ‘unchililike’. I can only imagine how she felt. We cut back on her food but she still gained weight. How could she not? She couldn’t do anything. I played with her a little bit in the house but was very careful. I didn’t want to aggravate her leg. Here we were almost 2 months into this Mysterious Limp and we still didn’t have the answer. At what point do you just say, ‘stop’. We didn’t know for certain if it was panosteitis and I’d already put her through 2 sets of Xrays. Poor girly got sick from the sedative both times. Now I was considering another option. The vet suggested that she get an ultrasound on her shoulder. What to do, what to do... I didn’t want to put her through being sedated again, but what if this was the test that would give us the answer. What’s the best decision for Chili?

We decided to get the ultrasound done on her shoulder. As they took her in I wanted to grab her and run out, but I didn’t. Here I was doing something I knew would be tough on her. Sorry Chili. To make it worse, they had to shave a patch on each shoulder. Oh brother, what next. To my surprise I was able to go in and watch them doing the ultrasound. Even when she’s under sedation, Chili still manages to be cute. Every now and then her tail would thump, thump, thump on the table and everyone would smile. So, after all that, the verdict was....nothing. There wasn’t much to see. There was a point that maybe he could see something, maybe not, we’re not quite sure. Now I feel even worse. He took a few images of areas around her shoulder and said he would send them to a specialist to review. Yeah, sure, go ahead, I won’t hold my breath. I don’t really blame the vet for not being able to find anything, that’s just the way it was.

As we waited for the specialist report, I thought about how frustrating this whole process had been. It can be tough owning an animal sometimes, especially when they’re not feeling good. They can’t tell you what’s wrong and most animals will do their best to hide what’s hurting. You have to make your decisions hoping that you’re doing the right thing. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find the answer right away, but most times, it takes a lot of money, worry, and research.

Ok, so the specialist report is finally here. I had to read it a few times just to absorb what I was reading. Blah blah of the blah blah, what? Mild degenerative joint disease and poor conformation of the coronoid may indicate coronoid process disease. What? Elbow CT or arthroscopy recommended. What? No, she’s 3, I don’t think so. I’m done. Forget it. There will be no more poking and prodding. I’m taking this into my own hands. Nothing has worked so far and I’m not putting her through anything else. We will observe her and see what happens. That’s it.

And observe her we did. It probably took another month or so, but she did get over the limp. It left as it came. It just faded away. In the end, after 2 vets, 6 therapeutic laser treatments, 2 sets of X-rays, 1 ultrasound, and 1 specialist consultation, oh yeah, and a lot of $$$$, it just went away. On its own. Admittedly, it could have been a whole lot worse and in the end Chili was OK and that’s all that’s important. When our animal has a problem we’ll spend almost any amount of time and money on the elusive cure. We do it because we love them, we do it because they depend on us, and we do it because we need them.

Saturday 5 November 2011

The Mysterious Limp Part 2

As you can imagine, Chili was not impressed by this whole situation. Staying at home sucks when you’re used to hanging out with your friends five days a week. It sucked for Brad too since he would drive home every day at lunch to let her out and spend time with her. I felt bad for both of them and had to come up with something to make it easier. I was talking about it with Michele from Connective Training and we came up with the idea of a babysitter. I know, don’t laugh. So, in comes Jas, a friend that I met through Michele. Jas has a beautiful pittie named Cali and I knew she wouldn’t let Chili boss her around. Throughout the month of December, Jas would come in at least twice a week to spend a few hours just hanging out and chillin’ with Chili. It made a difference and Chili loved spending time with her.

I wish I could tell you that the therapeutic laser treatments were working, but it didn’t seem like they were. Although, Chili did enjoy them and would just lay there relaxed unless she heard a noise or a person came in. She had to know everything that was going on. There were days that she walked just fine, and then there were days that by the time we walked the 100ft to the end of the driveway, she would be limping so badly, she could barely walk. She would hold up her leg and look at me then walk back to the house using 3 legs. It was heartbreaking. Other than holding up her leg, you wouldn’t know she had a problem. She never winced, or whined, or showed any other signs of pain. This made it even harder to pinpoint the problem. My little trooper.

Of course, it couldn’t just be a simple thing to go for the laser treatments. Victoria isn’t really known for getting snow but on a couple of her appointment evenings, it had snowed and the roads weren’t that great. Not a problem if you live in a place where you get lots of snow and you change over to snow tires in the winter, but when you live in a place where you don’t get much, and you only use all season tires, it can be difficult. Snow wasn’t the only challenge. During one of her appointments, she was lounging and enjoying her treatment when I looked up and said to the technician, “there’s smoke coming from the laser cord”. He looked at me confused; I think he was trying to soak in what I just said, so I repeated it. By this time I was already laughing and he turned around, saw the smoke and pulled the cord out of the machine. Yes, I was laughing. I didn’t see cause for panic, after all, Chili wasn’t smoking, the cord was. The technician apologized again and again. It wasn’t his fault, no problem. That was the end of that treatment. Sorry Chili.

So what was next for us? At the end of the laser treatment, there was no change. We decided not to continue. At this point it was January, I was done work, and could devote my time to Chili. The next step? I asked for another set of X-Rays. I needed to see if there were any changes in her bones and discuss where to go from here. I know he told me that it wasn’t cancer, and he was confident with that statement, but since she seemed to be getting worse I felt that another set of Xrays would show us something.

So, under she goes again for another set of Xrays. I asked him to Xray her whole leg and shoulder, right down to her toes. He didn’t think it was necessary, but I insisted. If she was going to be put under, I wanted to make it worthwhile. The result, there was no real change. Frustrating. Now what?