Henry, the three-legged Angel

Jaida here.

I just got an email from my new paw-pal, Henry. Henry is rather like me, in that he is furry and oh-so-gorgeous. Oh, yes, and he only has three legs.

Henry is a very famous guy, a real celebrity. He has been on T.V. and in magazines and newspapers and he even has written BOOKS! I think I need to get moms to call his agent....

Anyways, fabulous Henry has decided that I, too, am fabulous (naturally) and is going to send me some of his books! My moms are very excited about this, because they tell me that other people are going to want these books, and these people will give them some of that paper stuff they need to take care of my boo-boo leg.

If Henry were here, I would be bouncing all over him and giving him all kinds of kisses for making my moms so happy! Thanks, Henry!

A word of thanks.

Crystal here. (Jaida's off busy being cute at this moment. Sorry.)

We just want thank the folks in our lives (real and virtual) who have taken the time to let us know we're doing an o.k. job with this little pup of ours. You all made a big difference, and your kind words came when they were needed most. So...thanks.

EXCUUUSE ME! Jaida here.

Boy, mom's been hogging this blog lately, huh. My crafty teeth and I will have to have a word with her ankles about this. Pardon me? Nothing.

I would like to tell you all that my ONE GOOD LEG is feeling considerably more like it's old self, and I am back to my usual hopping about, with much less bonking and more dangling of my boo-boo leg. I still am BALD on my ONE GOOD LEG, which is most unbecoming to a gal of my loveliness. Moms tell me that I should get used to the BALD-ness, and that I "haven't seen nothin' yet", and whisper about something called a SUR-GER-EE. I'm not entirely sure what they mean, but mom Crystal gave me a BATH last weekend, so maybe she's thinking about a new hairdo for lovely me? Personally, I don't think that BALD would be a very good look for a gal of my loveliness. My teeth and I will have to have another word with her about that too.....

A dose of reality.

Crystal here.

Ok, folks, it's time for a dose of reality. A lot of Jaida's posts are fun and maybe even silly at times, which makes sense because she is a fun and silly gal...she writes as she sees things.

Her moms sometimes see these ordeals quite differently, and I think it's important to recognize this aspect of caring for a special-needs animal along with the fun-ness and silliness. Truth be told, Jaida's moms are starting to feel pretty rough around the edges right now.

There is a lot of fear. Fear of the unknown. Why did she get so sick last week? Could it happen again? Could it have been prevented? Is there some horrible underlying chronic or congenital issue lurking somewhere? What's going to happen next time? Are we going to be able to deal with it emotionally and financially? What if her front leg doesn't heal properly? There are a lot of "what ifs" floating around.

There is also guilt. About not doing enough, about missing signs of sickness or not responding fast enough. There is guilt about feeling tired and at times dispairing, because none of it is Jaida's fault.

Of course, the reason we are so scared and feel guilty is because we love her so much. This little pup is our baby. We have other animals who we love dearly, of course, but they are the result of a "blended family" (2 were Crystal's and 2 were Kims). Jaida is the first to be OURS. This makes her a little special. We love her so much it hurts sometimes, and the thought of her getting sick again, or worse, is hard to bear. The thought of not being able to do anything about it is terrible too (either because there's simply nothing to be done, or because our resources run out - we're trying so hard to raise funds right now to prevent that, but still). Our lives are fairly consumed with her. We are her caretakers, and she depends on us for everything, more so than a "normal" pet because of her disability. We are feeling tired and worn out, and perhaps even close to a breaking point. I have heard from other pet caretakers that they have felt this too.

But inevitably, something so sweet happens that you forget about all this, if only for a just a moment.

Like this morning. Jaida came tromping and bumping up the stairs and ended up on the bed, as usual. She snuggled in, and draped her leg over mummy Kim's neck and nuzzled her head in close, just hugging. My eyes are tearing up thinking about this, because it was just so ... nice. A sweet, beautiful, quiet moment where everyone was feeling ok. If only for a moment.

Hopefully there will come a time when these kinds of moments will outweigh all the fear and worry and guilt, and we will be able to relax and just enjoy our beautiful girl. In the meantime, we will simply do what we can, and love her through it all.

Solution for boo-boo leg.

Jaida here.

Well, my moms finally figured out that a run-of-the mill boring ol' dog bootie, which is meant for a straight, flat foot, is simply not spectacular enough to put on my boo-boo leg, on account of it being of its own unique shape.

So, they have discovered an amazing device surely created just for gals

like me ... it is called a BAY-BEE SOCKS. They are shaped nicely curvy and cushioney in all the right places. I still will chew and rip off the BAY-BEE SOCKS because that is what my teeth are for. I have been hearing rumours about something called VELCRO and I have a sneaking suspicion that moms are going to do this VELCRO to my SOCKS, and knowing them it will make it harder for me to use my teeth for their functional purpose. But as I said before I am a very independent girl and my teeth are very crafty, so we will see... In the meantime, moms at least had the common sense of picking out very stylish and snazzy BAY-BEE SOCKS to grace my lovely boo-boo leg. Stylish and snazzy things are much more fun to chew and rip.

The boo-boo leg gets a workout.

Jaida here.

Because I am a very independent girl, I simply cannot be carried around ALL the time. There are cats that need chasing and soggy brown grass patches to be sniffed. So, I have to use my boo-boo leg to help get me around, yes I do, because my ONE GOOD LEG is still sore (but a bit better). My moms need to get me a better-fitting boot for my boo-boo leg because THIS is how it looks today. I don't think it's that big a deal, but my moms are fussing over it a lot, so if a boot will make them feel better, hey, who am I to argue? I'm always game for a new chew toy...

A looooong weekend.

Jaida here.

Moms told me that long weekends were supposed to be fun. With trips to the park and to places where people give me COOKIES and stuff. Well, long weekends are no fun AT ALL, uh-uh, nope. At least, this one wasn't.

On Friday I forgot to wake up my moms. I am usually very on time and BARK at 6:00. But I didn't feel like it at all. I was too HOT. Moms remembered I was still downstairs at 8:00...they slept in, the nerve, leaving poor HOT me downstairs. They let me out of bed and I got my BREAKFAST, but then I just felt like lying down. And lying down some more. Then my mums stuck something COLD up my bum, how rude, and I smelled them being worried after they looked at the cold thing. (They didn't smell the cold thing though, which I thought was strange, because what else are bums for, really?) So, after more lying down, and me being too darn HOT to want to stand, let alone play or anything foolish like that, they put me in the CAR, the nerve, and took me to the VET.

Not my nice vet Dr. Sparling...this was an EEE-MER-GEN-SEE vet. Apparently an EEE-MER-GEN-SEE means that you are so HOT that people have to poke you with needles and poke more cold things up your bum and take pictures of you with scary machines and then poke medicine in your mouth and wrap up your ONE GOOD LEG with a needle under the bandange attached to a tube so you can't bend it and stick you in a cage. And then your moms go away smelling all worried, and then they live near the phone and call nice Dr. Sparling all weekend every five seconds.

For four days. Yep, that was the long weekend. Long weekends are not fun. No more for me, thanks.

But by Monday, I wasn't feeling so HOT so I guess the EEE-MER-GEN-SEE was over and my moms finally came to take me home. They still poke medicine in my mouth (but they do it with peanut butter, much nicer!) and still poke cold things up my bum. And my ONE GOOD LEG is very sore today, so I still don't feel much like walking. Mom Crystal took me to nice Dr. Sparling today, and he said my ankle is sore, and I thought, "duh, I had a needle and tube and bandage on my ONE GOOD LEG all weekend" and now I can't give it a rest because I only have ONE GOOD LEG." I just need a few days of pampering and carrying, and I will be fine. This is my boo-boo on my ONE GOOD LEG. I think I will live, however.

Moms are happy that I'm better, but they warned me that they will continue to stick cold things up my bum until they are convinced that it will never say 41.1 ever again. Apparently that is too HOT. I wish I could tell moms or the vets where I had been feeling sick, but they don't seem to speak BARK very well, so it will have to stay a mystery.

One nice thing about having to go to the eee-mer-gen-cee vet is that when you come home your big sister thinks you smell great! Gracie sniffed and sniffed and sniffed and wagged her tail. I think she must have missed me, but my moms roll their eyes when people say that. There are rumours circulating that Gracie got extra spoiled and didn't miss sharing STICKS and toys with me while I was gone. I don't believe that for a second though. I'm sure Gracie was pining away for me the whole time...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Crystal here (thanks Jaida).
Just a quick note from the moms. She's again on antiobiotics (Zeniquin 50mg once a day for 14 days), plus Cisapride 5mg three times a day for her digestion. No idea what happened, despite blood/urine tests and x-rays, and it wasn't the pneumonia. Very scary. Not overly impressed by the service at the emergency clinic which shall remain nameless. Poor communication between staff, terrible service at front desk, little conveyance of useful information from doctors to moms. Glad Jaida is home. Well, actually, she's not home today, she's being spoiled and pampered and given nice meds for her sore leg by her favourite-est vet Dr. Sparling.

Get over it, she's fine (And: an exciting weekend)!

Crystal here.

Kim and I took the girls to a dog park this Saturday. This was a very big deal for both dogs. For Jaida, this was her first "yay-I've-got-the-pneumonia-licked-enough-to-get-vaccines" major outing to socialize with other dogs. Of course, she got loads of attention, and everyone stared at her, because she's so frikin' cute and because she was accompanied by the fabulously gorgeous miss Gracie.

And because she hops around like a bunny and has a dangly little scrunchy leg.

There was lots of "aw, poor thing" and "oh, it was so good of you to take her on", which I guess is not necessarily a bad thing, but I'll be honest - it gets a little tired after a while. So, for all you owners of run-of-the-mill 4-legged dogs who happen to come across a dog with three legs or a bum leg or two legs or paralyzed, cart-weilding warrior legs at a dog park: the dog's people KNOW that their dog looks different and don't need to be reminded all the time. And, the dogs are fine. They are happy. They are enjoying their day at the park. If you watch the dogs veeeeerrrry closely, you might notice that they act, well, like fine happy dogs enjoying their day at the park. Hmmm ... sounds remarkably like all the non-handicapped dogs, doesn't it?

Ok, rant completed.

Next. Big deal number 2: GRACIE HUNG OUT AT A DOG PARK!!! This may not seem like a huge big exciting thing, but it sure was for Kim and I. We were super-dooper proud of our girl, yes we were. Why? Because if we had tried this last year, there would likely have been a dog fight. Probably several. The fabulously gorgeous miss Gracie, best friend to cats and all human beings everywhere, was not always the nicest with other dogs. In fact, she could be a downright jerk.

Enter Marty Walhin, dog trainer extraordinaire, and mummy Kim, expert handler. Gracie started going to "bad dog school" early this year to correct this *ahem* issue. After weeks of excellent teaching and hard work, Gracie passed her Level One Obedience class with flying colours. This weekend was proof of the value of those classes. Gracie was relaxed, happy, quite content to sniff every other object and pee on the ones in between, and met lots of dogs, with no problems. In fact, she practically threw herself at a handsome little pug (such a flirt!) It was the coolest thing to see, and Gracie provided Jaida with an excellent example of polite behaviour with other dogs. Yay, Gracie!!!

Props to Uncle Marty (he doesn't know that Gracie calls him that, hee-hee!). His website is here:
Marty Walhin
If you are looking for a dog trainer in the Ottawa area, call this guy. Seriously.