We have a dog named Maggie. Maggie came into our home in January '05. We got her from the SPCA and little did we know what we were in store for. She came with baggage. Not the matching set kind you buy at the Mall but true human like baggage. Emotional issues. She has them GALORE.
When we first got her we thought some of her behaviour could be cured by spending lots of money and taking her to Obedience School. The instructor told us after 2 sets of 6 weeks apiece that our dog could probably use some counselling. hmmm...a support group for dogs? I don't think so!
We took her to our vet and she spent some time on the phone with our Obedience trainer and Chris wrote up a detailed report on Maggie and some of her strange behaviour. Together we worked on a plan that Maggie did in fact know all the commands she learned at school but she chose not to listen to them because they just didn't work for her. She has her own agenda.
Maggie has settled down a lot in the last 2 and a half years. She's on medication for a recurring acute sinus problem she has, that costs $90/month to control and she has a leaky bladder so the estrogen pills she takes for that cost another $30/month but she's worth it.
Maggie has several issues, some are easier to deal with than others. Her biggest one is probably her fear of being put on a leash. A normal dog loves to see a leash come their way because it means they're going for a walk, yippee!!! Not our dog, she fears the collar, and the leash even more. When she's on a leash, she howls like someone's trying to kill her, jumps around and cries, sits down, does what ever she can to get out of the hold it has on her. So we drive her to the park and play ball and drive home even though it's just around the corner. It saves a lot on all of our collective nerves.
Another issue is the blinker of the car. Right. The blinker. It adds stress to Maggie's day to hear the blinker so we try to not use it as much as possible when we're driving with her.
So, in a nutshell, there's life with Maggie, a beautiful whippet/lab X. She's great. Maybe life without a blinker isn't so bad. It could be a lesson for all of us. If we trust God with our lives we can trust Him to make us turn one way or the other and just follow Him. In the long run, it's not such a bad idea.
Thanks Maggie, you're the best.
1 comment:
She sounds lovably neurotic. I wonder what happened in her life prior to you. Whatever it was it must have involved being tied up or something. But the blinker? I wonder what that's all about. Makes me sad to think she was abused. I'm glad she's got you. And since you're so willing to help her, I suggest Kegal exercizes for the bladder leakage problem. hehe. She's a doll and obviously loved. I'm glad. valerie
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