What do you do with a dog like Gromit?
I didn't know why at the time, but during the ride home from Gromit's Agility Class this week, I started to think about the Rowdy girl, our lab mix who passed almost 5.5 years ago. I started to think about how she would go running with me and thought about how brave she was and how she was straight forward about things like going to the vet for acupuncture or managing life and dinner through the pack of cats that shared our house.
I don't let myself go there very often but I clearly made a choice to keep remembering her. I could remember her haunches and the heavy triple coat there. I remember the fine boned legs and small paws that made her seem like she had some terrier in her and the way you could comb your fingers in the fur in her shoulders like a shepherd's coat. She had a big lab chest that made her hips seem small. At 70lbs she was not a small dog. I thought about her sweeping curled tailed. I remembered how her coat smelled. I missed the way she insisted on having her own space but was always there with me.
Loyal loyal loyal she was - always there.
Then I vividly recalled the events of picking her up from the University of MN animal hospital after hip replacement surgery. They called us to pick her up early because she wouldn't rest. They thought she might rest better at home. As we walked out of the clinic she scrambled all her claws on that slippery tile floor and squealed at the same time. We worked to help her out the door. It was painful for her to squat for any business. We got her to the van and popped the back gate open and before we could turn around and lift her up, she leapt into the van - again crying out in pain as she did. I have rarely felt as helpless as I did that day. Really they pretty much send you on your way after surgery and there we were Kristin, Heidi and Rowdy Ann - She came home and was patient and so brave.
Her pain did not subside quickly but once she did heal she was more comfortable than we had seen ever in her life. The memory made me start to cry wondering if she ever understood or maybe if she ever questioned what was going on with her body. She was steady and calm through her recovery.
Rowdy played games with us that she made up and we played. She would trick us into going to the door to let her out and she would race back in the living room to grab something off a dinner plate. We would sometimes run together in the winter and when I got warm and took off my gloves she would grab one and run home with it in her mouth. Every once in a while she would drop it on the ground. I would pick it up and we would keep going but eventually she would come and grab it from me - it was game to see who would have it when we got to the door. Once we did the Reindeer Run around Lake Hiawatha together. She grabbed gloves from a woman in front of us. Thank goodness that woman was a dog person. Oh, did I laugh though. We of course gave the gloves back right away.
I know what made me think of Rowdy and made me cry while I drove home from class this week. Gromit had reached his head over the head rest on the driver seat, from the back seat he nuzzled his nose gently in my ear giving me a couple of laps with his tongue - just like Rowdy used to do when she rode in the car with me.
I have been trying to sort out what to do with Gromit and agility. I worry a bit that we have come to our end and no longer making progress. We may have gone as far as we could. I had the same familiar pang grabbing at me about how to know what is right for my dog friend when Rowdy's hip dysplasia became more painful. I wondered if I was listening close enough.
I always wonder if I give Gromit as much joy as he gives me. I wondered if it matters to him that most of the time I adore him even if I show no affect. I wondered if we had given Rowdy as much as she had given us? I imagine that dogs don't see things in the same light of fairness. If they did they would never have allowed themselves to be domesticated.
I am in New Orleans this week with Kristin. And truly, does any dog say Mardi Gras more than Gromit the big white goof? He has charm and wit and intelligence and a pension for a party. Furthermore, I believe he would happily don a mask and color his coat and sprinkle it with a little fairy dust just to march in the Mardi Gras parade.
For now we will are continuing agility. Some things have come back to us after his injury last fall. Some things have sharpened in disparity. As finely as he can turn on a dime and manage steep climbs and jumps, we lose each other in the ring quickly and his tolerance for my errors seems lower. He wanders the course on his own more. Still, he loves getting his agility bag out and putting on his leash and playing with me - at least I think he does. He is enthusiastic about it all. What do you do with a dog like Gromit?
It is not time to start missing Gromit. He still joins me no matter what we are doing. I might have to up the ante with what keeps him interested. We will see as I keep track of our progress. With practice at home can he start to hit his weave entrances again and will he slice jumps.
I don't let myself go there very often but I clearly made a choice to keep remembering her. I could remember her haunches and the heavy triple coat there. I remember the fine boned legs and small paws that made her seem like she had some terrier in her and the way you could comb your fingers in the fur in her shoulders like a shepherd's coat. She had a big lab chest that made her hips seem small. At 70lbs she was not a small dog. I thought about her sweeping curled tailed. I remembered how her coat smelled. I missed the way she insisted on having her own space but was always there with me.
Loyal loyal loyal she was - always there.
Then I vividly recalled the events of picking her up from the University of MN animal hospital after hip replacement surgery. They called us to pick her up early because she wouldn't rest. They thought she might rest better at home. As we walked out of the clinic she scrambled all her claws on that slippery tile floor and squealed at the same time. We worked to help her out the door. It was painful for her to squat for any business. We got her to the van and popped the back gate open and before we could turn around and lift her up, she leapt into the van - again crying out in pain as she did. I have rarely felt as helpless as I did that day. Really they pretty much send you on your way after surgery and there we were Kristin, Heidi and Rowdy Ann - She came home and was patient and so brave.
Her pain did not subside quickly but once she did heal she was more comfortable than we had seen ever in her life. The memory made me start to cry wondering if she ever understood or maybe if she ever questioned what was going on with her body. She was steady and calm through her recovery.
Rowdy played games with us that she made up and we played. She would trick us into going to the door to let her out and she would race back in the living room to grab something off a dinner plate. We would sometimes run together in the winter and when I got warm and took off my gloves she would grab one and run home with it in her mouth. Every once in a while she would drop it on the ground. I would pick it up and we would keep going but eventually she would come and grab it from me - it was game to see who would have it when we got to the door. Once we did the Reindeer Run around Lake Hiawatha together. She grabbed gloves from a woman in front of us. Thank goodness that woman was a dog person. Oh, did I laugh though. We of course gave the gloves back right away.
I know what made me think of Rowdy and made me cry while I drove home from class this week. Gromit had reached his head over the head rest on the driver seat, from the back seat he nuzzled his nose gently in my ear giving me a couple of laps with his tongue - just like Rowdy used to do when she rode in the car with me.
I have been trying to sort out what to do with Gromit and agility. I worry a bit that we have come to our end and no longer making progress. We may have gone as far as we could. I had the same familiar pang grabbing at me about how to know what is right for my dog friend when Rowdy's hip dysplasia became more painful. I wondered if I was listening close enough.
I always wonder if I give Gromit as much joy as he gives me. I wondered if it matters to him that most of the time I adore him even if I show no affect. I wondered if we had given Rowdy as much as she had given us? I imagine that dogs don't see things in the same light of fairness. If they did they would never have allowed themselves to be domesticated.
I am in New Orleans this week with Kristin. And truly, does any dog say Mardi Gras more than Gromit the big white goof? He has charm and wit and intelligence and a pension for a party. Furthermore, I believe he would happily don a mask and color his coat and sprinkle it with a little fairy dust just to march in the Mardi Gras parade.
For now we will are continuing agility. Some things have come back to us after his injury last fall. Some things have sharpened in disparity. As finely as he can turn on a dime and manage steep climbs and jumps, we lose each other in the ring quickly and his tolerance for my errors seems lower. He wanders the course on his own more. Still, he loves getting his agility bag out and putting on his leash and playing with me - at least I think he does. He is enthusiastic about it all. What do you do with a dog like Gromit?
It is not time to start missing Gromit. He still joins me no matter what we are doing. I might have to up the ante with what keeps him interested. We will see as I keep track of our progress. With practice at home can he start to hit his weave entrances again and will he slice jumps.
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