Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Getting Rid of My Babies

In the past few weeks, several well meaning friends and relatives have voiced their opinion that I need to get rid of at least one of my dogs, if not all of them; I know this "advice" is coming from a place of love and concern for me, but I want to set the record straight: I am not going to get rid of my dogs now, or anytime in the near future.

Let me explain something, here. My babies are the reason I get out of bed on those days when the pain is so bad I would like to do nothing more than just lay in bed and cry! Because the dogs have to go out and potty and have to be fed, I have to get out of bed. And, if I were to lay in bed one day, it would be easy to lay in the bed a second day, and a third and a tenth, and so forth. My doctors told me a long time ago I would be in a wheelchair before I reached 40 years old. At just past my 48th birthday, I'm still on my feet, in part because I have to get up and take care of my dogs. I have a reason to get out of bed, especially on days when I don't want to because the pain is so bad.

I've recently fallen twice in the space of about 10 days, and some have blamed my falling on my dogs, when the truth is, my dogs had nothing to do with either fall. Yes, I was outside with the dogs on both occasions, but with the first fall, the dogs were more than 70 feet away; I had turned to look where the dogs were, and tripped over my own feet because my right leg decided to stop working at that exact moment. Nothing to do with the dogs. In the 2nd, I was outside with Rufus, and though he was on the leash, he was not pulling or causing any problem. Again, my leg decided to just "disappear" and I fell. It would have happened had I been inside or if I had no pets, whatsoever. It's part and parcel of the nerve damage in my spine.

My dogs offer me more than they could ever require from me: love, companionship, caring and they give me a reason to get out of bed each and every day. Yes, there are times when I wish I didn't have to take them outside to do their bizness; when I wish I didn't have to get up and prepare their food or refill their water bowls; when I loathe having to put them in the bathtub to bathe them. And yet, I wouldn't trade having to do those things for the loneliness and lack of a need to get out of bed for any amount of money.

I am greatly appreciative of the fact that my friends and family love me enough to be concerned about me, and I know the statements about getting rid of a dog or all the dogs comes from that place of concern and caring, but the truth is, if my friends and family truly care for me and are concerned for my welfare, they will understand that I NEED my babies, very deeply. No one would think of telling a parent who has the same physical problems I have that they should get rid of one of their children, even if that child had done something that caused the parent to fall; well, Trudie, Whitley, Rascal and Rufus are my children.

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