Friday, February 3, 2012

Getting Out

Today was one of those stunning sunny days that make me feel like a young mole coming into the light for the first time.  I was supposed to keep Teddy off his torn pad for a little longer.  I really was.  On Monday, we walked about six miles in lousy weather and I got a blister on my ring finger toe on each foot even though I was wearing my 'good' hiking shoes.  It seemed really pathetic that it was more than my feet could handle.  Then, the next day, we took a really short walk because I was busy, but I didn't want Teddy to climb the walls when we got home.  Good puppies need their walks.  When we got home, the boys noticed that he was crying as he licked his paw.  Part of it looked like it had been peeled!  Poor baby.  He's teething too and I didn't have any frozen hot dogs left.  

I looked up what to do about a torn pad and it had all kinds of advice about cleaning and wrapping the paw and keeping the dog off of it.  Have you ever tried to keep a wrap on a dog's foot?  They act like they only have three legs.  They chew it incessantly.  They look at you with those baleful eyes that describe in no uncertain terms that their lives are a misery.  Triple that if you even think of bringing out the cone of shame.  Our dog, Indiana, used to jam the edge of the cone into her hip and get to her paws anyway all the while giving us such sad eyes that we struggled with our consciences about keeping it on.  Teddy's foot looked clean and didn't seem infected.  I figured I'd risk leaving it open.  For two days, I've been really good about keeping him off of his foot except on our carpet, but then the dreaded energy levels started to overflow into bad behavior.  He chewed on a couple of Nick's toys.  He chased the cats.  He jumped on everyone.  That must be where I got the bruises on my right shin and left forearm.  He was incorrigible!

This morning, Teddy and I napped after the boys got onto the bus.  Despite his energy, Teddy loves his early morning nap.  He was even happy to load into the car for a trip to Costco.  Can you believe I spent $319 on food?  I mean, I have a family of three, sometimes four if you count Adrian.  We do count Adrian as one of our own.  He's here so often.  My grandma told me it made her feel safer when she saw all the canned goods we'd stored from Costco.

So Teddy was still patient as he waited for me to finish at Costco.  I was shocked.  There must be something in getting in the car that promises to turn into a walk that had him behaving.  He even tolerated me going back inside to complain about the chips that I ended up with but hadn't actually bought.  The guy looked at me like I was crazy, returning something I'd gotten for free.  I supposed I could have kept them, but they were chips and we can't eat chips fast enough to justify getting them for free before they go all stale and yucky on us.  By the time I got back, Teddy was using his sad eyes on me and planning his next chewing project. 

When the boys got off the bus, He was all over them again.  I could see that I had a dilemma.  How do you balance mental health against a physical injury?  Well, the pad looked a little thicker where it had torn.  It might hold together, so I voted for mental health.  I may have been voting for my own mental health.  Forgive me if I was.  I took Teddy on the same short walk that we call our home trail up by Lake Alice.  He leapt and danced his happiness.  He raced through a scummy ditch while I cringed, thinking about the microorganisms lying in wait there.  I really tried to keep it simple, but he was filthy up to the knees by the time we got back to the car.  Oh please, let it have been good clean dirt.

When I got home, I could see that a little part of his pad is raw again.  Maybe this time I'll clean and bandage it the way I was supposed to have done in the beginning.  Maybe I'll pull out the cone of shame.  So much for mental health.

Thank you for listening, jb

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