Woman’s Best Friend

Well, as some of you know, we’ve been through the wringer with our beloved canine, Petey, lately. About 10 days ago he just very suddenly collapsed and it turns out that he has a pretty aggressive and advanced cancer in his spleen and liver. The vets’ best estimate is that he has a maximum of 2 months left, but probably much shorter than that. The vets also said that there is nothing to be done . . . My opinion of vets is that they tend to see us as walking dollar signs, so when they say there’s nothing to be done, it’s bad news.

We’ve been pretty upset and it seems like it’s been 10 days of up and downs. We thought that we would be putting Petey down today, but he has had a quite a remarkable “bouncing back” lately. We cancelled his euthanization and are taking it day by day, but that is a bit stressful in and of itself. The vets said he will either die very suddenly or it will be lingering and we will have time to “make a decision” – it’s the suddenly part that has me rattled in that every time we return home from an absence I wonder what we’re going to find. For now, though, he’s here and he’s Petey and we’ll take that.

Being pregnant has not made this easier – I feel even more emotional than normal which is saying something. Also having to carry an 80 pound collapsed and uncooperative dog inside from the sub-arctic oudoors in my “delicate condition” was a special treat! You can take the girl out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the girl!

Anyway, in an effort to be positive, I am sharing “6 Things You May Not Have Known About Petey:”

1. Petey’s middle name is Pablo and he goes by Momily’s surname. We gave him the middle name Pablo in honour of this gentleman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petey_Pablo. We have to admit that while we are whiteys, we do watch BET from time to time and it is there that we first saw Petey Pablo. Petey Pablo’s fledging videos featuring mediocre rap, homegrown handy-cam footage, Rubenesque, booty shaking babes with visible cellulite and stretch marks, and unintentional funniness spoke to us and seemed like a suitable namesake for Petey!

2. Unusual things that Petey has eaten:

• On a regular basis: toilet paper, Kleenex, diapers both soiled and clean, Q-tips, dental floss and pretty much anything else that can be found in the bathrooms’ trash cans.
• An entire tin of Danish butter cookies and some of the cupcake like wrappers that they come in.
• Approximately half a pound of dark chocolate and its paper and foil wrapping.
• Two bags of those chocolate foil covered “gold coins” – foil included. He did not eat the mesh bags, however.
• Sharp and pointy bones of unknown origin, on a walk (a hefty vet bill ensued).
• A few unfortunate stuffed animals.
• Tennis balls.
• Several granola bars, wrapper and all, which we found in the backyard, um, wrapper and all.
• An entire bowl of wrapped candies, wrappers and all, which we found in the backyard, um, wrappers and all.
• A few packs of gum that he has successfully stolen from my purse on numerous occasions.
• And, last but not least, a dead rodent that he found outside.

3. To date, there are obviously very few things that Petey will not eat. However, there are a few things that he deems inedible for reasons that only the Petey brain can understand. Petey will not eat: banana peels (when he steals bananas off the counter, he somehow peels the bananas before eating them); orange, lemon, etc. peels (again he manages to open the fruit first - he’s no savage!), raw spinach, raw onions, canned dog food from the vet that is pre-medicated.

4. Petey does not play games, fetch, etc., but he has a few playful activities. He will play tug of war with a rawhide, but not with anything else. He also enjoys attempting to mount and hump D Sr., which D. Sr. enjoys significantly less. He occasionally does a bait and chase came when you go outside with him. He also has an ongoing rivalry/game with the magpies that frequent our backyard.

5. Many of our friends and family have lowly opinions of Petey Pablo, Esq. due to some of his behavioral challenges. However, he is lovable and smart and does have a few tricks under his belt such as “shake a paw” and “speak.”

6. Although he has only been with us 2.5 years, it feels much longer and he is truly part of the family. We love him to pieces and have a hard time imagining the house without him. He will be missed, but we are fortunate to have had lots of good times with him and hopefully have a few more ahead of us.