Three Rights Make a Left

A few weeks ago I wrote about adding a new little member to our family. Our Ausie-Pom puppy; Toby “The Dude” Leonard.

I have to say that since that little ball of fur came into our home, things haven’t been the same. My grandkids adore their new little playmate and he loves his kids. In the last few weeks I have bought him toys, my kids and grandkids have bought him toys and even our sweet neighbors Charlotte and Harvey sent over a box of toys that their little dog Molly doesn’t play with. He will play with some of his toys every once in a while, especially to play fetch or tug-a-war but there is nothing he loves to play with more than an ice cube. I drink a lot of iced tea, and I mean a lot. Every time Toby hears me filling my cup with ice at the door of the refrigerator he comes running. He will bark at me until I give him his no calorie, no carb and gluten free frozen treat. He will take it under the dining room table and eat it until it’s gone, or until he loses interest. But lately there is a third option that he finds to do with his ice cubes, and it’s a practical joke.

As I’ve told you before I am recovering from surgery to reattach my Achilles’ tendon. So I have had to wear a medical boot on my left foot for a couple of months. Since the boot is so tall, I have to wear a high-top hiking boot with a Croc insole for my right foot to be as tall as my left. Three times, so far, I have strapped my medical boot on without event. However, three times, mind you, when I have put on the hiking boot on my right foot I have gotten a cold wet surprise. It turns out Toby “The Dude” likes to put his ice cube in the heal of my hiking boot. By the time I try to put my boot on the ice is melted, cold and wet…. nicely played puppy.

On Saturday night about 10:30 we had a major traumatic event. Toby likes to sleep under the footrest of my electric recliner. He always jumps out as soon as I start lowering my leather recliner…..that is until Saturday night.

My daughter and granddaughter were here as well as my Brother Shawn. Everyone in the house had gone to bed. I turned off the TV for the night and pushed the button to lower the footrest on my chair. I heard a little bark bug couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. After a quick search I figured out that Toby was under my chair. Everything would have been fine if I had only pushed the back of my chair down and raised the front to let him out. But in a hurry I sat back down in my chair and pushed the button. As soon as the footrest started to raise, Toby let it a series of painful yelps that woke up the whole house. I jumped out of my chair just as Toby came crawling out still yelping. Everyone rushed to the living room to render aid to our poor little puppy. After a little evaluation we determined that his back leg might be broken but it was straight. He was soon back to his playful self, relishing all of the attention. My daughter and granddaughter wanted to take him to an animal hospital in the middle of the night but we persuaded them to wait and take him to Dr. Karen Williams, his regular Vet on 1640 on Monday morning. It turned out after X-rays he has three fractures in his back leg. Dr. Williams said she could splint it but he would just chew on the splint. She suggested it would be better to keep him in his puppy crate for 4 to 6 weeks. She sent him home with puppy pain meds. I had envisioned having to spend over $1000. Imagine my relief when I got a bill for less than $200. Dr. Williams is the best.