Twelve Years with a Golden Retriever

  It's funny how things change in the blink of an eye. Life provides us with peaceful times where the world around us just naturally follows what we consider the rules of our lives. But as they say, every once in a while, it throws us a curve.

Last week I walked into the kitchen to wake my elder golden retriever. She considers the kitchen her bedroom, away from the younger dogs who she finds annoying and immature (it's easy to tell).

She was lying in her usual spot, guarding the door. I noticed she had been sick and I cleaned up around her then opened the door to take her outside.

That's when my whole world seemed to stop. That's when you have those moments when you realize how much an "animal" means to you. Gracie sat up, but couldn't pull up her hind end. She couldn't get her back legs to hold any weight.

I knelt next to her and gave her a full body massage. She didn't appear to have any pain, but she still couldn't stand. Off to the vet, where they told me to park at the emergency entrance. But I was home alone and Gracie weighs 70 pounds. I used a towel to serve as a rear harness (and pulled a tendon in my left arm) but with Gracie's help, we got down the steps and into the car.

Her eyes were as big as saucers. I knew that she was afraid too. She knew she should be able to stand up and walk. She knew she couldn't.

The vets checked her thoroughly. When she tried to stand, she'd fall. Not lightly, but bang! onto the hard floor. My heart was breaking for her (and me). And I kept thinking "Is this how it ends? Our friendship of 12 years?"

Gracie remained hospitalized for two nights, 3 days. She had bloodwork, x-rays, bone scan, and was visited by the vets and their assistants a few times a day. She had a small room so she couldn't try to walk much and they padded the bottom and sides with lots of quilts. Using a harness, they walked her every few hours and she never once had an accident in her hospital room.

All I could do was wait. And put my faith in veterinary science and the two doctors who practiced it.

My three other dogs moped around the house. Very noticeably, they realized that Gracie was absent. They, my husband, and I waited between our daily phone calls.

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