Before my husband and I got married, I was already pitching hard for a dog. I wanted a sweet little puppy to snuggle and take for walks and be adorable with, generally.
So, a mere three months after we tied the knot, we got a dog. We had done our research, we thought, on what kind of breed we wanted, so when the opportunity came up to adopt a 10 month old Boston Terrier from an acquaintance at church who was going back to school and couldn’t take care of her anymore, we jumped on the opportunity. She came ‘to visit’ for a weekend, and we just never were able to give her back.
Not that you could blame us, with this face?! Please.
Lola settled in to our home and hearts with nary a look back. We overcame some training and behavioral issues in the first few months. She went to obedience classes, and then to agility classes, where her natural energy and 3 foot vertical jumping skills were put to good use.
The thing I think I like most about Lola is that she’s as up for an adventure as I am. Case in point, two weekends ago, G & I & Lola went camping at Devil’s Den, Arkansas with a large group of friends/aquainances from our church. We had a great time- eating, napping, hiking, etc. Lola even got to cool off in the river after our hike.
The problems started when we got home. I noticed a BRIGHT, RED, ITCHY rash all over Lola’s belly. And since we had pulled oh 5 or 6 icky ticks off of her, I was alarmed. I hustled her to the vet, who told us it was probably not some tick-laden disease (as I feared) but more likely ant bites or…something, he didn’t really know what. Nevertheless, being a good vet, he sent us home with some drugs- an anti-inflamatory and some anti-boditics.
Two days later, the rash is gone, but Lola is now waking herself up YELPING and crying in what appears to be intense pain. To be honest, it really freaked me out, particularly since there was no discernable injury, and too because she’s normally a very quiet dog. This went on ALL holiday weekend, she’d wake up in the mornings yelping, after naps, etc. We called the vet with our theory, that it was the anti-inflamatory causing muscle spasms- he didn’t really think much was going on, and told us to continue observing her (and continue adminstering the pills). Which we did, until yesterday morning when she woke up (and woke ME up) from a nap with the most intense yelping yet.
Off to the vet went yet again. Same story, 2nd verse. He didn’t discount our theory about muscle spasms, or my private theory that she’d tweaked a muscle roughhousing on Friday. But didn’t want us to just stop the medicine, but to step her off them gradually. If the yelping and pain continues, then we’ll look at X-Rays and pain killers.
She’s been getting a lot of rest, and no yelping today so far! So I’m hoping that once the medicine is out of her system, she’ll be as right as rain. I miss my adventuring buddy.
