And Now You Know Shadow!
working at the vet clinic for all of about a month when he came in.
He belonged to one of the pet stores that the head vet was in
cahoots with and came in sick. Dr. M pulled a stinky little ball of
disgusting, dirty gray fur, covered in muck and vomit, out of the
plastic carrier, and I think it's fair to say that no one could have
guessed that that little Keeshond puppy was going to steal my heart.
He was diagnosed with parvo, the treatment for which is expensive
and doesn't work half the time anyway. The pet store said to put
him down. Dr. M, bless her heart, didn't have it in her to kill a puppy
if she didn't have to. So she gave him a chance. She pulled him
back out of the carrier and asked him "Do you want to make it?"
The look of apathy and pain that he gave back to her indicated that
no, he really didn't. But I interfered (I'm like that) and said "Of
COURSE he doesn't want to make it! His whole life has been spent
in boxes: boxes at the puppy mill, boxes at the pet store, and now
he's in a box here and people keep talking over his head about how
he's going to die. Let me have a talk with the puppy."
My coworker Keith carried the IV pole for me, and I carried the little
gray furball outside to sit in the sun. He never touched the ground
(parvo is VERY contagious), but sat on my lap and I just petted him
and loved on him. I told him "Okay little guy, if you have to go, you
go. But know that while you were here, someone loved you. And if
you want to stay, I swear to you that I will see to it that you are glad
that you did, every day, for the rest of your life." He fell asleep in
the sun and I let him snooze for a bit and then needed to get back to
work.
Dr. M looked in on the puppy a little while later, and said to me "I
don't know what you did to that puppy, but he has fight in him now.
Let's treat him and see what happens." Dr. M is an excellent animal
acupuncturist and poked the puppy to help stimulate his immune
system. (Ultimately, since parvo is a virus, you can't really attack it
and instead treatment consists of boostering up the puppy's system
so that they're capable of fighting it off.) It was what sold me on
animal acupuncture, because in this case, it appeared to work.
Writing him up on the treatment board, someone asked me how to
spell Keeshond and I replied "Quichehound, duh!" He started getting
called Quichee almost immediately, and had he been a girl, almost
certainly would have ended up "Lorraine".
Over the next couple of days, the puppy improved steadily. I got to
be his primary caregiver and so I got to see when he first felt like
getting up and walking. And I got to be there the first time he
wanted some water and managed to drink it up without barfing it
right back up. These sound like such little things, but they were
momentous. These were the signs that he was going to make it.
Every single time I saw him getting better it made my heart ache with
joy. I'd never felt anything like that before.
Over the weekend, Dr. M came in to the clinic to check on him and
Sunday she discovered that during the night he had chewed
through his IV line, broken out of his kennel and trashed the laundry
room he was being kept in. I came in Monday morning to a sign that
said: "Quiche - GO HOME!" And so I got the first of my accidental
puppies. I didn't mean to get him, but I am so glad that I did.
Shadow is really my first dog. We had dogs while I was growing up,
but they were always mom's, not mine. So, of course, he was
immediately spoiled rotten. Nothing has changed over the year and
a half I've had him. I try to give him the best of everything. He's up
on the furniture whenever I am, loves watching movies on the couch,
and he sleeps on my bed.
He is possibly the sweetest, most gentle thing I've ever met. He's
helped me nurse other sick puppies and for the ones with parvo, I
swear, it's like he remembers. He is so gentle with them it makes my
heart break just watching him. And every time he comes around a
corner I fall in love with him all over again. He's so beautiful! And
thankfully, he likes the harp. He's been known to fall asleep while I
practice, with his head on the base of the harp. He vetoed the wire
strung harp a while back, but that's understandable.
I try to live up to the promise that I made him, and see to it that he's
glad to be here. We go for lots of walks, and sometimes he even
gets to wade in the lake (not a big swimmer, but loves to wade. Well,
once he figured out he couldn't actually walk ON the water.) If you
walk your dog around Crown Hill Park in Lakewood, Colorado, you
might just see us. Come say HI!
have resisted?
cuteness!!!
see why one of his nicknames is Bunny
Butt?
If you're so inclined you can write to
him at: Shadow@wendywylde.com
