Keys Louise!

I thought I had better introduce you all to Keys before she read the other blogs and realized she had not been spoke about too much!  Sunshine Paradise Keys Louise is my 6 year old golden retriever.

I adopted Keys in May 2006 when she was 8 weeks old.  I had just lost my beloved Pooh of 10 years, just weeks earlier.  I knew it was too soon to get a puppy, as I was still grieving (who am I kidding.....I am still grieving!).  The house was just so quite without a dog in it, just too quite.  So, I drove 6 hours, 3 hours both ways, twice within a week, to once meet her and to then pick her up.

When I arrived at the house where she was, I was greeted by the golden momma, Keys and her seven siblings.  I can still see them ALL running at me in excitement!  It was like something off of the t.v., where you see the dogs running to eat.  Needless to say, that made my day!  A week later, when she was officially 8 weeks old, I returned to bring her home.  I swear in that week, she had doubled in size......good golly!  What had I got myself into?

I was not mentally ready for a puppy.  She got that and used it on me for a very long time!  I can remember sitting in the chair, still crying over Pooh, while Keys was going crazy.  I had got myself into having a puppy!  My wild child!   And we had LOTS of disagreements!  I had them all with her...the terrible 2's and 3's, as well as the rebellious teenage years.

Keys has turned into my kid that really wants to plays sports, but just doesn't have the hand-eye coordination.  She very seldom catches anything I throw (i.e. frisbee, tennis ball).  When she does try to catch it, her paws are flying everywhere and her head is bopping all over the place.  No intensity or concentration!  However, like a good mom, I tell her she has done a good job, regardless of her catching anything.  She needs that kind of encouragement!

She has allergies.  Bad allergies!  I am not real sure when they started, 2007, 2008.  I just remember her eyes had become swollen, she had hives and felt like bubble wrap.  She is now on allergy shots for her environmental allergies, but, we continue to fight through the food allergies.  In fact, I just switched her food for, well, I have lost count to how many times!  I will say, knock on wood, she seems to be getting better, even after a week and a half.  She is allergic to beef and pork, which is used to make many of the medications she has had to take (i.e. heartworm, pain meds, antibiotics, etc.), as well as food and treats.  Taking these cause eye swelling and intense itching.  She is also allergic to fleas, ants, ragweed, dust and yeast, amongst a few other things.  Having a dog with allergies takes A LOT of patience (which I often lack).  Trying new foods can take months to see an improvement or a reaction.  Then you have to try something new.

Sometime in 2009, she tore her ACL.  Her limping kind of came and went for months.  About two days before her surgery, she blew it out all the way.  She had her first ACL surgery in February 2010 and her second surgery on the other knee (which she blew out in December 2010/January 2011),  a year later in February 2011 (yes just a month or so before I found Gracy's lump).  So, she now has two bionic knees!

Keys has become a great dog!  She is still a wild child and has issues when she sees people!  She is just a happy girl, but a big girl!  She is not an overly affectionate dog, but, has her moments.  When I am home she does follow me around and enjoys going to the home office with me!  Her and Gracy are best friends, which I didn't realize how much until Gracy was gone for those 10 days this summer.  She had moped around the house for days, not eating at meal time, but eventually eating...on her schedule....not mine.  I was beginning to worry a bit when Gracy finally got to come home.  Keys immediately returned to her normal behavior!  They are best buds and Keys is a great big sister to Gracy!  Keys is NOT just a dog to me!

Paying it forward!

While waiting at the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (a.k.a. - the vet school) yesterday, I met a lady from Springfield, MO.  She had her yorkie there, getting some expensive scans done.  As she told me her story, I knew I had another moment to pay it forward.

She began by telling me what was wrong with her dog and what had brought her to the vet school.  Her dog possibly had a condition that would require surgery.  She was a single dog mom, like me.  Her dog was her kid.  She also told me of her conversation with her sister, a single mom of three children.  Her sister couldn't imagine her spending that kind of money on her dog.  She said she quickly ended that part of the conversation and moved on.  She also told me how when she told her co-workers, and even though she was bawling while telling them, they all joked about what they would do with a sick dog out on the farm.  JERKS!

Her mom, however, treated her pup like her grandchild.  She is fairly smitten with the yorkie, according to the lady.  The grandma had just had something done, I forget what that was now, a procedure or something, but something that had cost a lot of money.  She had told her daughter that had she known her granddog would need help financially, she would have not had it done!  The dog mom said, you know, oh well!  So now I won't have some work done on myself!  My dog is more important!

I was reminded of the summer of 2002 when Pooh was diagnosed.  I had had LASIK surgery done in June.  Had I known Pooh would get sick a few weeks later, I probably would have spent that money on her and not me.  Which, I added to our conversation.

When the conversation got to a point that I could use my story, I did.  I told of the vet tech and dog moms conversation I had heard 10 years earlier that had changed my way of thinking.  The dog mom had a very similar story and yesterday's dog mom.  The vet tech told her that she should never feel sorry for loving and caring for her pet.  She should instead feel sorry for the people that had never experienced that kind of love and companionship of a pet.

There are different levels of pet ownership, in my opinion.  Some of us wouldn't spend money on a dog, some of us would.  I remember a former co-worker saying that he couldn't believe I was spending that kind of money on my dog.  Even though he clearly knew I was a devoted pet lover and had been there when my first dog passed, and knew I treated them as my kids.  I think like me, he wondered how I could get so lucky to have so many dogs with problems!  Anyway, I am trying to say, he wasn't questioning me, we were having a conversation.  I asked him to add up how much money he had spent on his daughters competitive softball team.  Uniforms, travel, food, hotels, just in the past year.  He quickly bowed his head and said "point taken"!  I told him that my dogs care would probably never add up (I hoped) to the cost of raising one kid through college.

Also, think about how much money people spend to watch a sporting event, race cars, crafts, or gardening. Or any other hobby that you might be involved with.  We all have passions.  We all spend our money on something.   My hobby and passion greets me at the door and welcomes me home!  Anyone who embraces that will tell you,  It's NOT just a dog!