There goes the flat screen TV...and other musings

Just wrote a $1400 check to my credit card company for Elky's vet bills. Needless to say, we won't be getting that sexy new flat screen hi-def digital TV that I was lusting after. Here's what I told Ellen when I wrote her a periodic update on the doggies:

Ellen & Marv, just a quick doggie update. We're all fine now, but we had a scary few days there when Elky was hospitalized with hemmorhagic gastroenteritis. The vet says they don't really know what brings on this condition (prolonged gastric upset, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration) but I think it was due to gobbling crumbs of suet and birdseed that the large woodpecker spilled onto the ground below the feeder. Whatever the cause, our Elky girl was a sick puppy for about 5 days, and for 2 of those was kept overnight on i.v. fluids.

She had been sick for three days and, even after I put her on a very bland diet (boiled rice and poached chicken breast) she didn't seem to be getting better. Glad I took her in: the emergency vet (these things always seem to happen on a weekend) said she was seriously dehydrated, and that she was in pretty serious danger of sepsis due to the condition of her bowel. You know how vocal Elky normally is. She had gotten very quiet and subdued and very listless, so it was obvious this was no ordinary tummy trouble. I'm very relieved to report that she's back to 100% now: barking at the TV, at the evil UPS truck that delivers her kibble, at the dangerous children walking to the bus stop, at me when I'm mixing up her kibble, etc. etc. And she has regained the contagious bounce in her stride as she and Tass lead me down to the woods for their morning walk.

Do you find her to be a very serious dog? She seems to be intent on everything she's doing, and I swear she looks at each walk as a major career move: she's completely absorbed, totally concentrating. Tass and I are often 30 yards down the trail ahead of her because she's stopped to study some smell or other, and then she comes racing to catch up. Tassel, on the other hand, is happy-go-lucky Miss Relaxed. Aside from her penchant for staying at the head of the pack, she seems much more light-hearted in her enjoyment of the outing. If I stop for some reason, she politely waits for me 10 yards up the trail, her tail wagging as she watches me to see that I'm not going off on another route or something. If I say her name or just talk to her, she trots happily back for a skritch, and then goes back to resume her position. She will stand there and soak up being petted and loved on, while Elky barely tolerates it. It's as if she's got important work to do and is impatient to be off and doing it.

When we're inside it's sometimes a completely different story. Joanna has put a quilt over the hassock/foot stool where I sit to keep the dog hair off, and Elky loves to jump up there and lie between my feet and rest her head on one of my legs. Joanna says I'm turning her into a lap dog, but I think Elky's really too independent ever to go that far. But she likes her cuddles on her own terms. For example: early morning is my meditation time, and this occurs after I take the dogs out for their early potty break. I sit on a low kneeling bench and a padded mat. Both dogs come to greet me and get a skritch when I'm settling into position, and then Tassel normally wanders off to her heated bed we got for her hip problems. Elky stays there in front of me with her head in my lap in perfect position for me to give her skritches with both hands. This goes on for five minutes or so and then she either lies there snoring through my meditation or walks off to join Tass on the cozy bed. She trots along beside or behind me whenever I'm in the middle of a chore, going to get the mail, take out the recycling, etc, and she sits and the entrance to the kitchen and watches me while I'm cooking. She usually snores beside me when I'm reading or working on the computer. It may be that she figures I'd wander off into the street if not for her constant vigilance...maybe that's part of her job.

Tassel will follow us outside, but when she sees we're only going to the mailbox she stands at the top of the driveway and waits, ears erect and her tongue protruding that silly half-inch that it does when she's concentrating on something. As I write this I note that we just returned from the mailbox: she waited at the top of the driveway and, when Ekly trotted back toward the house with me, did her ambush tactic to get some playful wrestling on the way to the front door. Tassel has taken it upon herself to closely monitor the chipmunk that took up residence under the outdoor storage box where I keep (and usually spill) the birdseed. If Elky is intent on my every move, Tassel is doubly so when it comes to this little guy. She stands and stares into the narrow space between the box and the house, then trots to the other end of the box where it is pushed up against the chimney.

Tass is our protector: no pedestrian or hiker makes it down our road without a sober and prolonged warning from her. No car door closes within a block without her disapproval. She is as intent on our protection as Elky is on supervising my every move.

Well, the trillium are in bloom in the woods across our road and the starflowers aren't far behind. And when we've had a day without rain, it makes for a very pleasant place for walking, despite all the fallen trees we have to scramble across. You're welcome any time to come for tea and time with the girls. Hope the spring is going the way you like it.

Jim