Sunny days

  With an old dog, there are highs and lows.  For Charly, usually these are determined by her health rather than events, outings, or runs in fun places.  Bouts of good health are highs, and infection or illness are lows.  For the past few months, Charly has been in a high.  Our vet prescribed a new medication to assist with her arthritis, and she hasn’t had an infection for quite a while.  Thus, sometimes she goes farther on walks – albeit just a few metres, and she has a bit more spunk.  

But, the next low lurks around a corner.  In the past, it comes suddenly, or with gravity.  I thought a low was looming a week ago.  I was working from home, and Charly had been sunning herself on the deck.  I went to close the door after a while, and didn’t see her. I checked each of her four beds on the main floor of the house.  No dog.  I searched other less popular areas on the main floor.  Still no dog.  She couldn’t have gone upstairs, could she have?  No dog upstairs.  She didn’t go downstairs, did she?  No dog downstairs.  There was only one other place.  I ran outside into the backyard.  I found her staring at the backyard gate with soil circling her mouth.  After sunning herself on the deck, Charly had decided to venture down the outdoor stairs by herself…likely to lay in a grassy patch (specially planted for her) and eat some dirt (not meant for her).  She hasn’t tried the stairs in over a year, but I suspect she had been feeling a little spry in her high lately, and so she took them.  Then, tiring of the yard, she took the path to the backyard gate.  She stood there…either hoping it would open or sending me telepathic messages to open it, so she could get back into the house without having to go back up those outdoor stairs!  That evening, I noticed Charly was extremely slow and stumbled a bit.  I think she mustn’t have made it down those outdoor stairs without some tripping or slipping, but there was no lasting injury.  We had narrowly missed a loathsome low…and for now, happily, the high continues.