Dogs have always been a part of my life. Growing up in the country, we always had dogs. I remember the loyalty of my first dog, a collie named Lassie. I remember how she would take my hand gently in her mouth and lead me to my Grandmother's house and wait at the back door to lead me home. I remember the sadness I felt when she died at 12 years old. I had never experienced the loss of a living thing that I loved so much. I learned lessons about life and death and handling grief at a young age. I can say without a doubt those lessons helped shape my young life.
Last week I learned that an old dog can still teach me a few things even at my age. My 10 year old "mostly" yellow lab, Bruiser, taught me a few things about resilience, and forgiveness. I got up like always on Tuesday morning and readied myself for work. A shower, shave and cup of coffee started me on my way out the back door to my Ford F-150. I have a habit of looking for Bruiser in his usual place at the corner of the house because I know he can't see and doesn't hear much better. Plus, if he does hear you the arthritis in his old joints keep him from moving too fast.
This morning I had other things on my mind and paid no attention to Bruiser's absence from his spot. I opened the door to my truck and climbed into the cab, buckled my seat belt, and turned the ignition. I sat there for about a minute letting the engine warm up before applying the brake and shifting the transmission into reverse. After slowly rolling backward for a few feet, I heard it, and knew exactly what I had done in a split second. A blood curdling "YELP" stopped me cold.
I quickly pulled forward a few feet, switched the engine off and jumped out of my truck. My eyes were met my the picture of Bruiser struggling to get to his feet without success. I ran to him repeating "oh no, oh no...what did I do?" I surveyed the damage quickly and it didn't look good. His left front leg was at an abnormal angle and I could see blood dripping from his mouth and a little around his nose. At this point I was convinced that I had dealt a fatal blow to this wonderful friend. All I could do was try to comfort him and see if he could hold on until we could get him to the hospital. Dana heard the yelp and was on the scene almost as soon as I was. She comforted me while I apologized to Bruiser. The Nurse in her then took over as she calmly told me he would be okay. She then went in to call the vet and retrieve a blanket.
Dr. Williams helped me and my son, Josh, get Bruiser into the exam room. He said he didn't see any serious injury other than the leg, but he quickly added, "He's an old dog with bad arthritis and we will just has to see how he reacts." On that cheerful note I headed to work and Dana and Josh headed home to wait on word from the vet.
Around lunchtime, Dana called and said that Dr. Williams had immobilized the leg and that we could pick Bruiser up and bring him home. I, as you can guess, left work a little early to come home and see my dog. I was amazed at how good he looked. Dr. Williams had explained his concern was whether or not Bruiser would get up and walk. We tried to get him up, but he would have none of it. My spirits were pretty low that evening. About 9 pm I told Josh I was going to check on him in the garage. Josh came with me. To my great surprise and relief, he was not in the garage. Josh went to the front of the house and I went to the back. Josh quickly yelled, "He's up here dad!" I was even more amazed to see that he was half way up the 21 steps that lead to our front door. We helped him negotiate the last 10 steps and made him a comfortable spot to rest.
I have been amazed at how resilient Bruiser has been over the last week. What a lesson in taking difficulty and willing yourself forward. No one would have blamed Bruiser if he had given up. But he not only didn't give up...he never complained. The YELP he exclaimed when I first ran over him was the only whimper I heard him utter. Not even a whine. And he gave me the one thing I desperately needed...forgiveness! Bruiser never failed to wag his tail and let me know that he still loved me.
Although, Dana did observe that Bruiser was anxious to get onto the front porch that night because he knew that was the one spot in the yard that I could not get my truck! Bruiser's even smarter than I thought he was in that case.
Lesson learned.
No comments:
Post a Comment