All is forgiven

Toby had a very hard day yesterday, poor guy. I had to leave him at the vet to be sedated so they could shave and clean out his infected foot, which must have been very painful. Usually our dogs love the vet's office no matter what appalling things happen to them. But today, for the first time, when the vet led Toby towards The Back Room where bad things happen, Toby looked like a cartoon character, putting on the brakes with all four feet and refusing to move.

So I walked back with them as they tried to take care of business without sedation first. It was a new vet at the clinic, and he was so very sweet and gentle with Toby, even as they had him in what I call the Unbreakable Body Lock - a technique where you get the dog on its side, and then reach over its body to raise all four feet and its head slightly off the ground. Lacking any pivot points to on the ground, the dog will immediately stop struggling, it's really quite impressive. But that doesn't mean he's happy about it, and despite the kindness of the vet staff, the look on Toby's face was one of naked fear.

So we agreed it would be kinder and easier to sedate him, and I left him in their care for a few hours. When I picked him up he was so relieved to see me that I just hustled him into the car to get him home, ignoring the other message he was trying to convey: that he really had to go to the bathroom. Which I should have known, that's always the case after sedation or anesthesia. We'd only gone a few blocks when I realized he was relieving himself in the car, our dog with the bladder of steel, and he had a look of such embarrassment and misery as he broke a fundamental rule of both humans and canines, soiling his living space. I told him it was ok, it was my fault, but he huddled in a corner, making himself as small as possible. I'm so sorry, buddy, I said.

It was a hard day for a dog who almost never lets life get him down.

And yet today, miraculously, all is forgiven. This is why we always say Toby is our role model - his unsquashable ability to bounce back from anything with complete love, joy and curiosity.