In case you thought parenting a dog was a bed of roses

My sister and brother-in-law, like my spousal unit and me, are powerful dog lovers.. And, like Taku and me, they are still grieving the loss of their long-term companion. They lost Scally not long before we lost Miki.  Ever since we got back in regular communication, now that we're too old to sweat the small stuff of our difference over politics and religion, we talk a whole lot about our dogs. Karen and Joe just inherited a pug named Suzanne.

I am still getting used to the idea that we lost Miki and have only Bounce to fill our lives with love and affection. Bounce does that, in spades.

But not without a price to pay.

This morning, my sister asked how Bounce was doing.  I wrote two responses, which I am sharing with you here, the first one short, the second one with way way too much information.

Please hit your delete key now if you have an aversion to any discussion of scatological topics. 

Answer #1 - She's fine. We've got some medication for her loose stool that we started giving her today. I'll keep you posted.

Answer #2: - I think if Bounce could talk, she'd say, "What are you guys going on all about? I'm just fine. I'm just like you: when I'm hungry, I eat; when I'm thirsty, I drink. When I'm sleepy, I nap.  And when I have to pee or poo I scratch on the door until somebody lets me out and I do what I need to do."

And she's right. She's just like us, except for that last part. We don't scratch on the door. We have a separate room for peeing and pooing. Like you, we never use the carpet. And like you, despite all the rumors that we overindulge our canine daughters, feed them expensive food, let them sleep in our beds with us, and walk them twice a day, we can actually distinguish between man and woman and beast.

That amounts to no mean distinction these days. Since last Saturday, Bounce has needed to poo several times a day, including at 3 o'clock in the morning. Whether we have missed the signal or whether she's just getting old and can't be bothered anymore, we have not only been getting up every night for the past several nights at 3 a.m. but cleaning messy poo off the bathroom rugs, and the bedroom and stair landing carpets. Thank the saints for disinfectant. And pat us on the back for having invested in a carpet cleaner for just this purpose some years ago.

We have had intense conversations with her about this behavior. We are modern progressive parents. Wouldn't dream of following the old ways our ancestors used of rubbing her nose in it. We never raise our voices, never scold, never punish, always assume her behavior is the result of bodily necessity and never of malicious intention. When we reason with her she always listens carefully with a look in her eye that says she's paying attention and trying to follow. And then she continues on with the same behavior.

We have a vet that has been with her (and her sister before she died on May 15) from the beginning. I called him yesterday and related our tale of sleep interruption woe for the past five nights. He told me to bring him a stool sample this morning for analysis and sent us home with some anti-diarrheal medication, which we started her on this morning.

I suggested to Taku that it's time we had her sleep in a doggie bed surrounded by pee pads and fence her in for the night. Taku doesn't like that idea, thinking it would be torture if she had to empty her tanks in the middle of the night and besides, it would only reinforce the notion that it is OK to perform this task inside the house. He would rather go on waking up until the diarrhea stops. A close look at our wall-to-wall will tell you that over the years we have cleaned up several dozen bits of pee and poo and vomit. The remaining stains are the price of having the love of a dog. One which Taku wishes he could still pay for Miki, when he's a bit into his cups after dinner (he's still young, barely fifty, and still plays a lot of woulda-coulda-shoulda.)

Will keep you posted.

Thanks for asking.

Love and hugs,

Your brother on the Left Coast

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