Pretty much everyone I know who has dogs will say there’s one dog that really speaks to their soul, takes up residence in their heart. Our feelings for our heart dog doesn’t diminish our love for the other dogs we have. I believe they make our hearts bigger so we have more room to love other dogs who share our lives. That is their magical power.
My heart dog is Quin! We just seem to get each other. He looks into my soul and makes me feel loved and seen and heard. Strange things to say about a creature who never speaks a word to me but we certainly share a mutual language that enables us to communicate.
Quin was a pretty typical nut as a puppy, other than the outrageous biting. Sneak attacks from behind doors, grabbing my leg instead of toys, running past and then returning to take a bite out of any unprotected part of my body, and being relentless when he got started. I put toys in his mouth, traded toys for my arm, tried to modulate excitement and help him settle before it escalated, we did all the things. Eventually I started standing on the coffee table when he went into shark on steroid mode. And one day, he was done, didn’t need to bite anymore!
Quin is kind and funny, he likes dogs and cats and kids, playing and hiking, unfazed by most things. He’s steady!
Quin was a rockstar on the agility field: strong, fast, responsive, obstacle focused but aware of what I was doing. He was a dream partner who saved a lot of runs through sheer athleticism.
Then Covid happened and we did more training than trialing. When trials resumed, he started to come up lame occasionally, he’d rest for a few days and all would return to normal. But it kept recurring and I started to worry. We’d enter a trial and I’d pull him after the first day.
My personal vet was out of the country but several of her associates checked him and found nothing amiss. But something was wrong, I was sure. Off we go to the sports vet for ultrasound and he was diagnosed with a psoas tear (of course). Now we’re doing all the prescribed crate rest, etc and we’re both frustrated. He’s getting frequent massage and laser therapy and then he attempted to bite the chiro -this is a dog who has never shown any sign of distress when handled. So I knew he was in pain.
Next step is our regular vet because it’s just not adding up in my mind. She watched him walk, took some X-rays and with tears in her eyes said the dreaded words – severe bilateral hip dysplasia. You need to see the orthopedic specialist.
And just like that my world crashed down!
