Why I’ve Never Had a Puppy

Kona

 “I’ve had this animal poison hotline magnet on my refrigerator for about 15 years,” I said to the nice lady on the other end of the phone.  “I never had to use it before.”

“Okay, well, let me talk to the vet who’s on call right now, and I’ll get back to you.  I’m going to have to put you on hold for a little while,” she said.

While sitting on the steps with my cell phone in one hand and the magnet in the other, I thought about when I first picked up the magnet.  It was when we took our first dog, Music, to the vet.  Music never got into anything poisonous and so far, neither has Lila, our current dog.  Both Music and Lila were older when they came to live with us.  As I watched Kona looking at me, I dreaded telling my daughter what happened.  Kona is Laura and her hubby’s puppy.  I’ve watched both of them work to care for and train their adorable seven-month-old dog.

Earlier that night, as I was taking a break on the sofa, I thought I heard a crunching sound when I thought Kona was laying on the mat by the front door, one of her favorite resting spots.  When I went to inspect, I found fragments of red eucalyptus leaves scattered on the floor.  The leaves had been part of a dried floral arrangement.  I wished I would have listened to myself the other day when I thought about throwing away the dusty old leaves.  Then I wouldn’t have this problem.  As I tried to piece the scattered leaves onto the empty spots on the branches, it looked like they matched up and that Kona hadn’t swallowed any.

“Hello?” the lady’s voice was on the line again.

“Yes?”

“The doctor said that it’s really dangerous if dogs ingest the essential oils of eucalyptus.  If Kona only got a little bit of the leaves, she should be okay.  If she throws up, don’t give her any water for about an hour.  If she can keep a little water down after an hour, give her a little more.  If she has excessive vomiting and diarrhea, call us right away.”

“Ok, thank you.  Now I know why I’ve never had a puppy,” I said.  Older dogs work better for me, I thought.

“Your daughter can call us too,” she said as she rattled off the case number and we said our goodbyes.

I grabbed the dusty leaves and threw them in the garbage can in the garage.  When I walked into the living room, I checked our other plants.  After searching “plants poisonous to dogs” on Google, I learned that philodendrons and Christmas cactuses are also poisonous to dogs.  Thankfully, all the leaves were intact on those plants living in our house.

When my husband, Kona and I got into the car to bring Kona home, I made sure the folded piece of paper was tucked inside my pocket.  The case number and phone number of the poison hotline were on that paper, and I knew I’d have to tell Laura what happened right away.  As we drove Kona home, she rested quietly on the backseat with her head hung low, her nose almost touching the floor.  Before the leaf chewing incident, we visited the dog park with Lila, and I figured the exercise wore Kona out.  When we pulled into Laura’s driveway, I was excited to see the new place Laura and her husband had moved into that day.  Laura greeted us at the door.  After we said our congratulations, and after Laura reported that all the carpets had been cleaned, I handed her the piece of paper and told her what happened.

“I’m sure she’ll be okay,” Laura said in a calm and even tone.  I saw a Christmas cactus sticking out of one of the moving boxes and gave it to Laura.

“These are poisonous to dogs too,” I said as I handed over the plant.

After we got the tour, said our goodbyes and made it home, I settled down on the sofa in front of the TV.  Only a few minutes passed and my cell phone rang.

“She threw up!”  Laura reported in a scary voice.

“Oh, no!”

“I gave her a half a cup of food after you left.”

“Do you see any little red leaves?”

“No.  It looks like she had a chewie.”

“Yes, I gave her half a chewie and half a dog bone when she was here.”

“Well, it looks like her dinner is here, and all that stuff too, but I don’t see any red leaves.  It’s a lot.  It’s gross.”

“Do you usually feed her food that late at night?”

“No.”

“Maybe we fed her too much.  I’m sorry!  How’s the carpet?”

“I’m not worried about the carpet, I’m worried about Kona!  We tried to get her in the bathroom, but she didn’t make it.”

“I just hope we fed her too much and that she’ll be okay.”

After we hung up, I knew the night would pass slowly for Laura and me.  When I checked my phone early the next morning, I was glad to see a text message from Laura saying, “No more barf!  Kept a little breakfast down.”

The following day Laura, Kona, Lila and I went to a dog park where we tried to coax Kona into going for a swim.  Even though Lila showed Kona how to fetch a tennis ball from the pond, Kona only ventured to the shoreline.  Laura reported that Kona only had a big cough in the middle of the night after throwing up, and that she has been okay ever since.  Plus the incident didn’t leave a stain on the carpet.

Now I know I can’t let my guard down whenever I watch Kona.  That is, if Laura will ever ask me to watch her again.

On the shoreline!

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Making Friends at the Dog Park

When I opened the door to the van to let Lila out, she almost got away from me.  I managed to grab her leash as she ran off to greet the other newcomers to the park.  I was thankful that my arm did not get dislocated as Lila pulled me along.  Lila greeted two leashed dogs as she circled around them and their mom managing to get her leash wrapped around the legs of the mom who was standing just outside of the gate.  

“Sorry,” I said, as I tried to untangle Lila’s leash from the lady’s legs.  Sometimes having a dog can put us in embarrassing situations, and this time I felt I was breaking the boundaries of closeness between humans.  I figured out that it would be best if I grabbed onto Lila’s collar.  I unfastened and refastened the leash and got it untangled without knocking anyone over.  The lady and her dogs were free to go into the park, and so were we. 

Thankfully, dogs can go off leash after entering the park.  Lila ran off to see the other dogs and humans.  Lila is often attracted to people who have a Chuckit Ball Launcher.  People pretend that they are not irritated by Lila retrieving the balls that belong to their dogs.   One time a man wanted to play Chuckit with his dog.  The man did fake throws to two labs.  Yes, Lila was one of them.  The labs did get faked out and ran for the non-existent ball that was nowhere to be found.  While they were happily running side by side in search of the ball, the man chuckled while he threw the real ball in the other direction to his dog.  The man did three fake throws before the labs realized what was going on. 

Chuckit Ball Launcher

Since I was slightly embarrassed by Lila running off and playing with others who had a Chuckit, I decided to buy one.  I thought we would have a lot of fun playing fetch together.  At first, Lila was very excited and she did a great job of playing.  Then the novelty wore off.

“Drop, drop,” I said to Lila as she firmly held the ball on one side of her mouth while her tongue hung out the other side.  She continued to walk around me, her eyes on mine, not dropping the ball.  I held the Chuckit Ball Launcher in my hand waiting to scoop up the ball.  I waited for her to drop that ball so that I could chuck it, but off she ran to greet a human who was walking along the path on the other side of the park. 

“Hi, Buddy,” the lady said in a very high voice as she petted the top of Lila’s head.  This is when Lila dropped the ball for that lady.  The lady bent over, picked up the ball and threw it in the center of the park without even using a Chuckit Ball Launcher.

“Jeez,” I thought to myself.  “I am the one who buys her food, buys her treats, makes sure she gets fed on time, lets her outside, takes her for long walks, takes her to the dog park with a brand new Chuckit Ball Launcher, and what does she do?  She goes off and plays with some other lady.  What about me?  Is she forgetting about the own members of her pack?  The ones who love and take care of her?”

Lila ran off to chase the ball and brought it back to the lady.  I decided to walk along the path too, my hands in my pockets, shoulders slumped, face to the ground, making sure not to step into any droppings, and feeling a little unloved.

Lila found me and pranced around as if reminding me that she did not forget about me, as she firmly clutched the ball, still not willing to drop it for me.  

As we walked along the path coming back towards the entrance, I met the lady who called Lila “Buddy.”

“My dog went over to you with the ball.  I can’t believe that she…”  I said, without saying hello first.

“Ya, my dog does that too.  Sometimes I go running after my dog trying to get the ball.  I know that you’re not suppose to do that, but I do,” the lady said.  “Your dog is so sweet and friendly.”

She bent down to pat Lila on the head, and her dog growled showing her jealousy.  I realized that I felt just like that dog!

What else can I do but chalk it up to Lila showing me how to make friends or could it be that she just likes to see me annoyed?