Monday was the anniversary of the day my dog's achilles tendon was sliced by the side of a telemark ski. (Since I wasn't there, I'll never know really quite what happened, which is probably just as well.) Next week will be the anniversary of the day she had her back leg amputated. I've been thinking about whether to mark the occasion.
I don't think I'll do much. She gets along great. She doesn't think there's anything unusual about her. The only difference in her life this past year are small. She can't do the grand, luxurious full body stretches that she used to do, because her balance is off. She still stretches, but it's a more limited range of motion. She can't keep up when bounding through deep, deep snow, because without that extra back leg to push off she gets mired in the snow. It's the only situation where I see a real difference between her and four-legged dogs. She also can't win at tug of war, with me or with another dog. She still plays, but she finds that she gets pulled around unless she sits or lies down, but then she really can't tug back as hard. She doesn't seem to mind.
So I think all I'll do for her this week is be a little bit extra loving. Some treats from local baker-blogger The Doghouse Kitchen are in order, too, I think.
A nice doggie for sure!
Posted by: Rufus | February 23, 2005 at 06:50 PM