At Home, with us
My wife and I live on a nice piece of property just to the north of The Great Smoky Mountains, My fenced-in back yard is probably an acre and a half, my side yard or the immediate unfenced area around our house is probably just as big but not quite as symmetrical as the back. Now I've told you that to tell you this; My big Yellow Lab, "Boomer", is approaching Twelve years old. Boomer and I have been around the country together as he used to accompany me when I drove a semi coast to coast, we have a few good stories to tell and I was glad for the company and the laughs. We were fortunate enough to have a friend in the Labrador business when we started and we were able to get some really great bloodlines to begin with, and over the years Have found and had some Labs who were pure instinct, some were little people masquerading as a dog, some were very smart while others were dumb as a sack of rocks. Boomer is the person in disguise. Anyway, while out in the yard in early 2003 I patted Boomer on his hip and he yelped, this scared the beegeebees out of me because this is a certified Therapy Dog and he has never showed any aggression and has be the kindest most amiable dog anyone could hope for. He has of course, since his arrival on our place worked his way into being THE house dog and he knows he deserves it! Know what I mean ?! Anyway this scared me and we took him to the Vet and was told he had Discospondylosis, a condition where there is a calcification that grows over the discs of the vertebrae and pretty much fuses the backbone together. When I was told this I informed the vet that at this time having him "put down", is not an option. The vet prescribed a pain medication called Dermax, which is fairly expensive and over a period of time can cause Liver damage. My wife and I decided that if it kept him around for a couple of years it would be worth it, cause the other option, well, wasn't an option. And if the condition was going to cause us to go that way later anyway. That was 6 years ago, we quit giving the Dermax to boomer after a month or so strictly because we couldn't afford it and replaced it with Doans pills. They seem to give him some relief. And he does get up and move around, not as much, but he still does, he doesn't cry in pain, and he gets his fair share of cuddles I assure you, If he knew what a papoose bag was I would never get any rest. I earlier talked about the size of my yard, I let Boo out in the unfenced area on occasion so he can check his P-mail and I will keep a random eye on him from the house. Now its 20 feet from my back door to the door between my Den and Kitchen, for a dog in his condition, by the time I cover the 20 feet, he has zipped to the other side of the yard. How does he do that ?! There have been a lot of Labs in my life, and quite a few I wished I had never adopted out. But if I would have kept them all, I'd have so many it would look like a field the size of an old Bison herd. This one, when the time comes, is going to be especially hard. But, well Christmas is coming, maybe, lets see, where did I see that papoose bag...hmmm.
