Do you have a mantra?  I do, I “walk with purpose”!  I have come to accept that my geriatric dog can’t go the distance like he used to!   He gets tired, but I will give him props, other than a new desire to stop and spread his scent every five feet, Lucas doesn’t poke along, he can motor!  I am not an insensitive gal, I get that some of my canine companions are smaller in stature, it takes a lot of effort for them to keep up with my gait and some of the more senior dogs need to take their time and that’s exactly what we do!  It was cold this morning, -16 I think I heard, with the wind chill.  I got the boys suited up in their winter coats and thought I would treat them by taking a different route!  I am not sure if it was the frigid temps, the change in scenery or whether one of my charges was having an off day, but the concept of purposefully walking certainly was not our mission statement this morning!   Today’s tag line was ‘artful dodging’!  Walk two feet, stop abruptly on a patch of ice and see if the lady at the end of leash can stay on her feet! One minute we are walking the straight and narrow and the next, let’s suddenly veer to the right, don’t flip Andrea, hold on tight! Poke, poke, poke along, while our dog walker hums a song!   The catchword for the day ‘patience’….I tried to be the embodiment of that concept, that was my purpose.

I have figured out how to get the sun to shine!   I walked over to get Marcus for a morning stroll and it was over cast. I got his leash on and was planning on taking his house mate Sunny when we returned.  She walked towards the storm door and suddenly the clouds disappeared.  I decided that Sunny was a good luck charm, I put her sweater on and off we went!  Wow, was it ever soothing to the soul to feel those rays beaming down on us.  We took our time, meandered through the neighbourhood, managing not to wipe out as it was a little slippery.  I myself felt awesome, seeing the sun was a total mood booster!  I was humming in my head “I’m walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves and segwayed into “Sun, sun, here it comes…” by the Beatles.  Blue skies are just what the doctor ordered and the cold didn’t seem to bother any of us!  Great day…Sunny…Marcus…clear skies and the suns warmth!

It is not uncommon when I am getting ready to start my day, that the bathroom floor is carpeted in furry creatures!  In fact, it is a rarity for me to step out of the tub without the Romeo sprawled out on the bathmat and me performing some bizarre balancing ritual in an attempt to avoid treading on him!  When I am pet sitting my kitty has competition!  Sam, Newton, Harley…they all love to sprawl out on the linoleum and relax while I bathe and blow dry my hair!  Our dog however, is not one to compete for space in the loo!  The only time Lucas feels the need to frequent the washroom is when there is a thunder storm and he takes refuge in the empty bath tub. Occasionally, he will pop his head around the frame of the door to see if I am done my extremely limited beauty regimen!  Imagine my surprise when I pulled back the shower curtain this morning to find my buddy Lucas lazing on the bath mat, relegating Romeo to lay over the vent! I was shocked when he didn’t grumble and shove off as I maneuvered stepping out, he occupied the entire surface of the mat, leaving me no option but to make a puddle on the floor.   I figured his companionship would come to an abrupt end as soon as I began to blow dry my hair, but no…my sweet old love didn’t budge!  He seemed quite content to rest and listen to Romeo’s very loud purring and the whir of my hair dryer.  I found having both my furry boys hanging out with me to be splendid treat!  I have been wondering as the day has progress if this will be the start of a new trend?  Time will tell! Just in case it was a fluke, who knows, maybe he felt a pressure system coming on and I was thwarting his ability to find safe haven in his usual haunt, who knows!   All I can say is that I am thrilled with myself that I decided to snap a photo before the adorable scene came to an end!

I sometimes wish my charges had thought bubbles over their heads so I could accurately pin point what they are thinking!  The gentleman I listen to on the radio in the morning warned his audience that the weather was going to get nasty by midday! My first walk was great, in fact it seemed mild!  It was wet and drizzled for poor Marcus and I on my second one, his white fur got rather messy.  I sat and watched the ice building up on the office window, hoping that perhaps the rain would subside and the sky would clear for my late afternoon walk.  Nope, I finally acquiesced that it wasn’t going to get any better our there!  I put on my tights, my winter jacket, and covered it with my rain poncho from Universal studios (snazzy) and put my ice picks onto my boots and off we went!  We got out the door and bless Diesel’s heart, he looked up at me as he was relieving himself as if to say he just needed a quick break and then he would be happy to head back in to the house.  The three of us walked for a good twenty-five minutes or more and got soggy and dirty.  At least twice Diesel stopped and planted himself, the blurb over his head would’ve read “Hell no, I won’t go!”  I somehow managed to convince him to keep going.  We passed a gentleman standing in his garage surveying his driveway wondering if he had spread enough salt,  usually we see him on the path in the park, but there was no way he was going to venture out today.  He thought it was rather amusing to see me and my bedraggled four legged friends braving the elements and asked me if we were nuts!  When we got to the park, I was pleasantly surprised to run into another man I see from time to time, with his dog Molly…this was validating to me, I wasn’t that crazy, someone else thought it wasn’t that bad out!  I finally came to the realization though that no matter how long or far I walked, my little friend was not going to do his business, Lucas had accepted Mother Nature’s blustery afternoon dump of  icy rain, but not Diesel, he has standards for what is acceptable weather.  As we hit the home stretch,  I could sense his exuberance, and general relief that his safe haven was waiting for him! I have decided I need a new rain poncho that says in bold lettering “CRAZY DOG WALKING LADY!”

This morning it was blustery and cold, as I walked along one of my favourite sections I was mesmerized by the sight of the snow falling and how impressive the trees are the way their branches reach to the sky.   It amazed me how quiet it was outside and I looked down at my two walking companions and reminded myself how lucky I am to have friends that get me out and about. Just before we reached home I ran into a lady down the street, I usually see and her woolly dog out walking, but as of late I only see her alone.  As she cleared her drive I inquired if her dog was okay, she said that her dog had gotten sick and had to be put down last week.  I felt a lump in my throat as I watched her scratch Diesel under his chin.   Later on in the day, after I had done a few chores I went on to Facebook and noticed a post on Gratitude.  After reading it, I got to thinking about how I already do some of the things it suggested to live a life where I appreciate my daily blessings, and yet there were others I could adopt into my daily routine.  One suggestion was to make a conscious effort to recognize at least three people every day , this got me to thinking that in the line of work I do, there are at least three furry creatures I could pin point each day, that have filled my heart with joy and have either taught me something or perhaps help made my life richer due to my interaction.  I thought of  Murray, a horse that lived in Milton with my cousins,  I looked forward to what seemed like and endless drive, so I could run out to the fenced in area where he lived and talk to him.  How I loved that horse, he could be cantankerous, but I didn’t care, he would stand there and let me scratch his nose and listen to me prattle on.  Another friend that came to mind was, Whiskey, a big old Newfie Cross that lived a few doors down from us in Nanaimo.   There was something about watching the interaction between him and his person Steve that made my heart happy, neither of them were overly expressive, and yet you could sense the depth of love that they had for one another.  I think of them often as I am out with the boys.  Then there was Zola, a small wisp of girl that had the softest curly fur.   When I would baby sit my  cousin, Zola would snuggle with me on the couch, I was nervous being on my own in the house, but somehow that tiny little pooch made me feel safe.  I adored that little dog!   Each day as I am out with my charges I see Maggie and Leroy in the front window, some days they bark a greeting, others they are laid out in the window, one eye open aware I am walking by, yet again.  There is the orange tabby that wanders through the neighbourhood with his accommodating person who stays with him, keeping an eye on him.  It amazes me how patiently his person meanders along with him, never rushing him!  It can be -15 and that gentleman will stand around for over a half hour, watching his kitty go from house to house,  until they eventually make their way home, it’s a very cool sight to behold.  We see Maggie, a sweet senior girl who likes to make her way to the park every day, when we stop to say hello to Gail her person,  that lovely old girl rests under a tree, she knows the ladies like to chat and she indulges us.  Every where I go, I meet four legged examples of how animals make our lives a richer, more wonderful existence!  They prompt us to be patient, kind, generous, they have so many blessings to pass along to us human beings to remind us to be grateful for the here and now.

There are only so many dollars to go around when it comes to our household income!   It is hard when things are tight and one of our furry friends becomes sick.  This has happened in my household so many times, and it is sad when you have to make the choice to pay bills and be fiscally responsible or go into debt with the hopes to keep your pet in good health.  I remember when I first got married I came into the union with my dog Amber and my cat Samantha.   My hubby hadn’t had a lot of experience with dogs, let alone Shelties, who have an insatiable appetite! He decided to dispose of some waste from our deep fryer and buried it in the back garden, while the dog meandered around watching.  The moment she was alone, she promptly ate four litres of soil mixed with vegetable oil.  Amber became violently ill, and we had to drive to the only Emergency Vet that existed at the time.  The dollar figures being thrown at us were phenomenal to newly weds with no disposable income,  she had Acute Pancreatitis and the outcome was bleak.  I was the only one working and my spouse was finishing his last year of university, we didn’t have loads of cash for tests and over night stays.  I remember asking them what they were going to do for her?   The vet responded they were going to watch her over night, introduce fluids in the morning, I tbsp of water at a time, and it would take a couple of days to nurse her back to health. I was bereft, we barely could cover the cost for the visit.  I made the decision to take my girl home, I called in sick to my job for two days and I stayed with Amber, nursing her back to health, 1 tbsp of water at a time,  until she was through the rough patch.   She recuperated fully and went on to live a good life!  There is nothing worse though than having to make that decision, “Can we afford to fix this?”   There are never any guarantees and to be honest, I remember spending $800 on our dog Nishka, she was new to us and her skin was an abysmal mess.  Our regular Vet had sold his practice and we had to try a new one, the doctor we went to did skin tests, blood work and punched 11 holes into our poor dog and still could not figure out what was wrong with her.  A friend happened to come by to visit us and saw her and said it looked a lot like mange.  We bought some Revolution, that cost us $11 and Voila, within a day things improved markedly!  We were furious we had put the dog through so much hell, when the solution was so simple!  Then there was the Vet who convinced us that my four year old Sheltie needed her teeth cleaned,  she went on about the risks in not doing the procedure and how bad things would get if we ignored the problem.   Guilt is a powerful tool,  we wanted to be good pet parents, so we succumbed to the pressure, after all, she must know better than we did!   There was a mistake in the dosing they gave Piper for the anesthesia,  after she had her teeth cleaned she began having neurological issues which was the beginning of the end for her, she never really rallied from that.   Our fur babies are members of our families, I think most of us try and do our due diligence, we buy the best food we can afford, we get them vaccinated, we try and take them for regular check ups, but life happens and sometimes they get sick.  It is usually a costly process to figure out the “what” that is causing the issue.  I remember spending $3000 with an Emergency Vet on our cat Romeo, only to be told that he needed a surgery that would be in the $4,000-5000 range.  And, the preface that there was a fifty fifty chance of it helping, in all likelihood he would die! When I said I didn’t think we could afford that, I was told the only other option was to euthanize him.   I took my boy to my own Vet, who said they wouldn’t put him through that surgery, there were too many variables that could go wrong, to take him home and love him, I greatly appreciated her candor.   That was over five years ago, we take things a day at at time, we do our best to keep him happy and healthy, and I have to say, I am glad I didn’t succumb to the pang of conscience I felt from the one Vet for not doing the surgery.  Our family has had it’s share of struggles with our pets succumbing to illness or old age.  My Piper, ended up with Cushings disease, we spent money hand over fist to try and help her, but in the end her illness got the best of her and there was no amount of money that was going to turn back time.  The sad part was, shortly after that our other dog came down with Vestibular Syndrome, she was 16, incontinent and things at the company where my spouse and I both were employed were going south, I was pretty sure we were going to be jobless in the next while.  I remember thinking we could wait and hope things turned around for her, but there was this nagging voice in the back of my head, questioning what if things got worse and we didn’t have the money to pay to help her?   The sad thing, euthanasia wasn’t a cheap alternative either.   It is a miserable thing to have to look at one’s bank account and make the decision, will I be able to afford to help my pet?  Medicine isn’t an exact science, it is a lot of guess work and going on intuition and hoping that the Veterinarian takes the right direction in treating the problem they are presented with.   There are no guarantees!   If I have learned anything with my furry friends, love goes a long way in curing them, don’t ever underestimate the power that your bond with that animal has in it’s overall ability to heal.  Guilt is something we will all experience, but you do the best you can with the information you are given, getting a second opinion isn’t unwarranted, blind trust isn’t always a good thing, it is okay to question your Vet, and in the end, follow your gut instinct!!  Lastly, that animal loves you, it knows that you will do your utmost to take care of them.  If it comes down to a procedure that seems too invasive or the cost is something your finances can’t handle, they will understand.   Just be with them, love them and if the time comes where things are beyond fixing, then be a good friend, you owe them that much!  It is hard to watch the light go out of their eyes, it is one of the hardest things you will witness, but you will never regret being there with them, you will never regret that yours was the last touch that they felt, or voice that they heard and they will go in peace.  That is what love looks like, and no matter what situation your bank account is in , we can afford to give our furry friends our presence and with this, there can be no remorse.  Be there for your animal, the reassuring presence in the room that let’s them know, no matter what, you are there doing what you can, this is something we can all give no matter what the bottom line is.  There is no dollar value on love, you can give that freely and with that, when the dust settles, there is peace of mind.

Every day when I am out walking we encounter other people with their canine friends, taking a stroll through the park.  Some days we meet up with strangers and other days we encounter faces and wagging tails that we are familiar with.  This morning we happened upon Molly, a very cute golden mix and her person!  It is interesting watching the dynamics of dogs as they meet, and as odd as it sounds, watching Diesel interact with Molly  on this particularly snowy morning, got me to thinking about the world in general.  The two pooches have met one another on several occasions, sometimes they greet with wagging tails and everything goes smoothly.  Other days there is a bit of a hiccup, a tense few minutes, one might decide to growl or jump back appearing like they are ready to get into a tousle, hackles raised and eyes locked.   I started thinking about Canada, Mexico, and our mutual neighbour, the United States and how I feel people in general are not sure how to perceive or react about the current political climate.   President Enrique Nieto, decided to cancel an impending visit to the U.S. to meet with recently inaugurated President Donald Trump.   As odd as this sounds, the dogs reactions to one another this morning, had me thinking of how people might currently be experiencing a change in leadership.  Nieto is feeling like Trump has decided to show his teeth, before the cordial greeting could even get started.   Myself and the gentleman, at the other end of the leash, felt the tension between the two dogs and braced ourselves, ready for a potential skirmish between the two dogs.  We both backed up a little, gave our canine charges some time to reevaluate things, and thankfully, the two reassessed the situation and tails began to wag!  Both dogs relaxed and sniffed one another once again and the greeting ended up on a positive note!   I found myself hoping that the gentlemen that are in power in our three countries are able to follow our canine brethren’s example.  Wouldn’t it be lovely if all the trepidation, angst and uncertainty that we are all feeling could be alleviated if these men were able to step back, regroup and try again!  It sounds inanely simple, perhaps a little ridiculous that I am comparing the meeting of two pooches in the park to they way the leaders of our nations should go about handling our countries affairs, and yet I think there is so much to be learned from our four legged friends!  As the saying goes “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”   If only life in the political arena could be that simple, we would not be walking on tender hooks, fearful of what the future holds and wondering if the relationships with our neighbours will be a friendly one!

What a sad looking sight!  No, I didn’t put him in a time out, this was self imposed!  The idea of sequestering himself in the crate, was is reaction to my putting the cushions up in a position that prevents he or one of our house guests from laying on my upstairs love seat!  How rude!   Lucas knows that he is allowed on the couches as long as there is a blanket on it!   Everything was great, he was sound asleep on his side when things went a muck and it wasn’t his fault.  It was HER, that fun little nit wit that comes to stay with us now and then, she made a boo boo on her side, which resulted in things needing to be washed and now his favourite resting place is off limits!  Such a sad state of affairs…not like there isn’t another sofa in the basement with a blankie on it, or a comfy dog bed from Costco in the family room, or another dog bed in the Master bedroom. The dog has options where he can rest his weary bones!  I added insult to injury, when I turned on the vacuum,  one more annoyance, so he slunk off to the back room and curled up in a ball!   Shame on me!  It’s a tough life, all the poor old guy wants to do is find a quiet place to get comfortable and have a snooze and the females in the household are conspiring against him!  Never fear, his confinement didn’t last very long, ten minutes later I came down the hall towards the bedrooms with the Dyson and he harrumphed and disappeared, it appears he doesn’t hold a grudge though!

 

 

Yesterday, was Bell’s “Let’s Talk” Day.  Many people tend to think of psychological illnesses as a uniquely human trait. But that assumption would be wrong!  There is growing evidence that many animals can suffer from mental health disorders similar to those seen in humans.  Anxiety, Depression,  Obsessive behaviours,  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and this list goes on.   These conditions that affect animals could help us understand how and why humans become mentally ill, and why these debilitating disorders ever evolved at all.   Some animals are known to self harm, by pulling out there own feathers or fur.   Service animals that have been in combat situations suffer from PTSD returning from their tours of duty with anxiety and panic attacks.  There was a case of chimpanzee whose mother passed away, her child refused to eat and became withdrawn, eventually slipping away. Whether they are pets, or animals kept in poorly managed zoos or circuses, animals can become excessively sad, anxious, or even traumatized.  The next question that should be asked is, do these animals suffer because they are influenced or affected by the impact of their human interactions? There has been many studies of animals in the wild, it has been found that some species like lions or wolves, that do not behave within the norms and do not act characteristically like the rest of the pride or pack,  end up dying.  Is it because these animals with mental disorders can’t make it in the wild because they are not necessarily getting the care or support that mentally ill humans do, therefore they can’t perform critical tasks to ensure their survival, and due to this lack of support they can not thrive.  I think the point that can be made, is that we are all part of this earth, we are all affected by the experiences that his planet undergoes, that each of us are a sum of it’s parts.  I wonder as we advance with technology and mechanization if our planet and it’s species are struggling to keep up with the affects of progress and how it impacts Earth?  However, mental illness is not a new development, asylums and sanitariums have been around for centuries.  I think the difference is that humanity is developing an openness to discussing our diverse natures.  We are not all cut from the same cloth, we all suffer in some way, shape or form, the difference now is that people seem more open to discussing and accepting mental illness and doing away with the stigma attached it being out of the ordinary.  We are coming to realize that our pets and animals in general, like their human counter parts, have mental struggles! They suffer from abandonment, loneliness, anxiety, hyper activity, a lack of connectedness, the fact is, we all feel pain!   What we humans need to understand is that we are all different, we are all messed up and imperfect (something I think our animals already understand, this is why they love us unconditionally).  We need to find ways to express acceptance and embrace diversity!  If we wish to continue to evolve, we need to be open to understanding that we all perceive this world differently and need to be respected, loved and cared for despite those frailties we may cope with from day to day.

Leg room is a wonderful thing when trying to get some sleep that should not be taken for granted! Last night I was able to finally stretch my gams out and not sleep in the fetal position.  We had a lovely visit this past week with Sam while his family vacationed in Mexico, but he and my kitty hogged the bottom half of the mattress!  Last night he went home to his people and today we are back to our regular numbers.  Holy Moly, am I feeling melancholy today!  Is it the weather this month?  Could it be it’s the February blahs?  I have been walking around today with a heavy heart, heck, even the cat seems sad!  Romeo is curled up in a ball on the downstairs office chair with no one he feels like nuzzling. Lucas has found a couch and is sleeping soundly with no one to alert him of the goings on in our neighbourhood!   It’s very quiet and frankly, a little boring.  That’s when I remembered that tomorrow another four legged friend is coming to stay with us, followed the next day by my Grand puppy and Grand Kitty, life will not be dull by any stretch of the imagination! It has struck me that I will have more leg room for the next week, but sleeping in has just become a luxury I will not have for the next seven days!  Who needs eight hours of REM time anyway?   ” Grey skies are going to clear up, put on a Happy Face, Brush off the clouds and cheer up, Put on Happy Face!  …”