Injured Dog

Wednesday at about 1:00 p.m. I noticed some bleeding on Olive’s left front paw. Looking closer I saw that her dew claw was askew. I took her to a groomer to see if she just needed to have the claw cut. The groomer thought she should see a veterinarian. I immediately called our vet and got an appointment for 4:15. The vet took care of the problem so that Olive has to wear a bandage for the next three days, take some pain pills, and the bandages must be kept dry. I was given one of those plastic cones to prevent her from licking the bandage if necessary. After a few reprimands when she started licking the bandages, however, she seemed to get the message. I told her that if she didn’t stop licking I would have to put the cone on her, and that I didn’t think she would be happy about that. It was as if she understood me.

Anything Olive needs she gets, but veterinary care is not cheap. When I saw the bill, I said "ouch", but the vet does have similar costs to a people doctor, so the charges were not really out of line.

This morning Olive didn't jump on my bed to say good morning, as she usually does. When I got up she was in my bedroom but in a spot that she usually doesn't lay in. She had some trouble getting up and walking, as if it was painful to put pressure on the injured paw. After a while she limped downstairs and asked to go for a walk. I wasn't sure what to expect, thinking that this might be an abbreviated walk, but once outside she seemed to find her footing with only a slight limp. She had her normal morning walk and ate her breakfast after we got home. I would think that this would be her worst morning, so I am hopeful.

 

Olive with her bandaged paw. Note the paw print bandage?

 

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Last week I was away at a fiddle camp on the Ashokan arts and nature preserve near Kingston NY. Olive spent the week at Candlewick Kennels. The Candlewick staff reported that Olive was active and playing well with the other dogs, and that she ate well. It appears that she had a good time while I was away, though when I picked her up on Sunday she whimpered in my car all the way home and wouldn’t leave me alone once we got home for the rest of the day. Nice to know that she missed me.

This year I took a Scandinavian fiddling class, a class on playing waltzes and airs, a class on fiddle harmony, and ended the day before supper with the French Canadian jam session. Some people who are regulars at Ashokan that I am friendly with have started a business making limited quantities of high quality gin. At each session gin and tonic drinks were available. The first few days I avoided the alcohol, but then gave in to temptation and tried a gin and tonic. That was the first gin and tonic I have had since college days; somehow it was much better than I remembered the last one to have been. I suppose the reason is because in college we used the cheapest gin we could find, and bargain brand mixers. What a difference forty years makes.

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I have gotten word that Olive’s friend Peabody, who lived with my friends Kathryn and Mark in the Berkshires, has gone over the rainbow bridge. Peabody was a wonderful corgi who will be sorely missed. Kat and Mark still have a lively younger corgi named Archie who gets along wonderfully with Olive.

If you are unfamiliar with the rainbow bridge, look at https://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

I once saw a bumper sticker that read “if only the rainbow bridge had visiting hours…”  We can only wish.