BarkingProse

Ash is already worried about mom leaving us. She’s going to the ranch for a long weekend. I don’t even know what a ranch is, but when she comes home she sure smells good.

Mom loves to ride horses in the high desert. She says it clears her head and makes her grateful. We’re glad she gets to go do something fun, but we sure don’t like being left behind.

Ash doesn’t understand why he can’t go too. Turns out there’s a rescue Aussie at the ranch and a couple of funny little Corgis.

I guess the ranch is like summer camp for adults. The people leave their pets and kids behind and go make new friends. There’s no TV, phone or internet, so people laugh and talk and stare at the night sky.

When mom leaves us we all fret in different ways. Ash gets real sad. He won’t play ball, doesn’t bark much and mopes around the house.

Jack sticks real close to dad and pees on the furniture. Tess really doesn’t care because she belongs to dad. There’s more space on the couch for her when mom is gone.

Me, I’m kinda lost. Mom chose to keep me when I was stinky and full of pee. She named me Nellie and tells me I am beautiful. She never gets mad when I have accidents in the house. At night she whispers she loves me and asks me if I can stay with her for another day.

When mom leaves I try to be brave and not cause problems. I mind my own business and stay in the studio most of the time. That way when mom comes home she will know where to find me.

I know it’s hard for mom to leave us mutts. She makes lots of food and treats, lays out all our pills, and writes instructions for how to take care of us if we get sick.

When it’s time for her to go to the airport, we all huddle around her at the door. She kisses each one of us and slips a yummie treat in our mouths. She asks us to be good and take care of each other.

Jack won’t kiss mom good bye because he’s too upset. Ash lets mom hold him tight as long as she wants. I push my head into mom’s hand as hard as I can and lick her fingers. Tess just smiles knowing she can get away with murder until mom comes home.

When the door closes Ash stares until he hears the car drive away. Then we all settle down and wait for time to pass and mom to come home. I hope she brings us something from the ranch.

 

 

Seems like there is always something going wrong with me. I arrived at Asherpark with a horrible stinky infection in my pee trap. I had rotten teeth. One had to be pulled. I had a growth on my eyelid that had to be removed.

Once all that stuff was fixed, things were going along pretty good for a while until I got real dizzy. The vet called it canine geriatric vestibular disease.

Of course it’s canine – I’m a dog. Of course it’s geriatric – I’m a very old dog.

Mom said not to worry about what to call it. She says I have doggie vertigo. That sounds a lot less serious than what the vet named it.

I’ve had three spells of vertigo. First time I nearly scared mom to death. I was whirling and staggering and sick as a dog. Ha Ha! I always liked that expression…..sick as a dog.

Anyway, mom got me to a safe place in the house and gave me a pain pill that made me sleep. By the time I got to the vet I was a lot better.

I had vertigo two more times. The last time landed me in the hospital overnight. Worst thing was I lost five pounds and now mom can’t find them. She keeps feeding me extra food and treats, but I can’t seem to get the pounds to come back.

Ash has barked about how confused I am. Maybe that’s how I appear to others, but I don’t feel confused.

I do stand and stare a lot before I take a step, but remember I’m nearly blind. Of course I can’t hear a thing except for Asher’s big bark. Then I do get confused. What the heck is that boy barking at all the time?

Recently I got diagnosed with canine cognitive disorder. Isn’t that just as silly as the long winded version of doggie vertigo??

I don’t want that stupid condition. Or if I have it, at least call it something else. Ash went to work last night on the computer. He looked for different names, but they all sounded strange. Ash said ‘dementia’ is the most accurate, but it’s hard for us mutts to say.

Finally Ash asked if we could just say I’m goofy. That sounds perfect to me. I’m dizzy and goofy. Sounds like cousins to the seven dwarfs.

Yesterday mom got me some high priced medicine to make me less goofy. It’s called Anipryl and people take it too. I get one pill with breakfast. It’s supposed to help me think better.

We won’t know for a few weeks if it helps or not. It sure made me more active yesterday. Instead of slowly walking around in circles, I practically trotted around in my circles.

When it comes right down to it, we all get old and fall apart. If it weren’t for Old Dog Haven, I’d have died two years ago. Tess asked me if it would have been better to die before I got so old.

No way!! Even if I can’t see or hear, I’m dizzy and goofy, and I drop my bombs in the house pretty often, I love my grub and I love my mom. I don’t feel sorry for myself. I feel very lucky. I want to live forever.