Thursday, December 28, 2006

Dog Lessons

My daughter's dog (the one whose picture is on this blog) is an exceptionally badly behaved animal. My daughter has spoiled him rotten to the point he feels he has to mind only when he chooses. This is not an alternative with me, so over the past two years I've been slowly training him. He's far from perfect, but he does mind me much of the time.

Today, however, was not one of those days. Both dogs were outside and I was preparing to leave to go grocery shopping and to run some errands. I called them in. He was busy eating shit and didn't want to come in at the time. So I let the other dog in and locked up and ran my errands, leaving a short haired dog outside in sub-freezing temperatures. Before you get the wrong idea, there is a well-insulated doghouse out there so he wasn't really outside. But he was not in where it is marginally warmer either. He was not a happy camper, but I'll bet that the next time I say "come on in, Brisco," he makes a beeline for the door. He's stubborn but he's not really as stupid as he acts.

We are all feeling bad about his sister. I wrote about finding a mass in her mouth before Christmas. The results are in. It's malignant melanoma. They say she has anywhere from 4 months to a year to live. We all talked it over and will not subject her to major surgery and radiation. She's 12-1/2 years old. There is no point making her last few months sick and miserable. As long as her quality of life is good, we'll do our best to make her happy. When she begins declining, she will be put to sleep. That's going to break my heart. She's probably the sweetest, gentlest dog I've ever met. I will sincerely miss her.

2 comments:

BBC said...

Hum, I'll bet I could figure out and fix that electrical problem in no time. If you where a little closer I would drop by and do it for you, being cold really sucks, I hate being cold. It's 75 degrees in here right now.

That sounds like the wise thing to do with the dog. Honor life, but don't prolong misery. Not to mention that vets are damn expensive these days.

Enjoy a peaceful new years eve.

Sewmouse said...

Happy New Years, Wench!

I'm so sorry to hear about Clara's decline. She sounds like such a sweetheart.

Between us two, maybe we manage to make some headway this year huh? I told you on the phone what I found in my mailbox - with a positive start like that, things must be gonna get better. We just gotta keep the focus and keep truckin' in the right direction.

Here's to health, wealth, happiness, an end to world hunger, and no dog-hair in your bed this year!