You Can’t Live in a Bubble
January 11, 2011 at 7:32 am | Posted in Family Ties, Life and Living | 12 CommentsTags: dogs, life, pain, parenthood, vet
A few weeks ago, on Christmas Eve in fact, my dog was playing ball in our yard. My boy is a Labrador retriever who literally lives for ball. Where ever he is, you are likely to find a tennis ball not too far away. When he plays, he puts his all into it, making very dramatic catches that rival any outfielder. So when we threw the ball to him on this day, and it rolled into a pipe that protrudes out of the grass, it’s not surprising that he went at it like he was in a race against time. Unfortunately, it was not a happy meeting of pipe and dog face. The dog was left with a cracked and bleeding canine tooth, and the pipe (believe it or not) has a nice scrape on it forever marking this day.
This is not the first time my boy has gotten hurt, and like any parent of human or animal kin can tell you, it kills you when your child is hurt. With dogs, it’s even harder because they don’t understand why it hurts and they don’t complain. They just try to keep going as if nothing ever happened. But it’s very obvious when your boy can’t even pick up the ball that he so adores.
This dog has been through a lot. He’s been bitten twice by other dogs, slammed into many walls, fallen off the bed when he least expected it. He’s become less submissive when dogs approach him and start bothering him, but when he hears other dogs barking in their yards as we walk by, his fur still stands up in fear.
When we finally got him to the doctor (bad timing for an accident with the holidays), we learned that he would have to get the tooth removed. The doctor said that this particular tooth was designed specifically to kill game on a hunt, and clearly my dog would never have to work that hard. His response to our rant about how this dog is always getting into something — “You can’t live in a bubble.”
This is a hard fact for any parent to take in. Aren’t parents’ jobs to protect their young? So in terms of my boy, I will continue to try to protect him as best I can. But I took this lesson to heart for myself. You can’t be afraid to do things that you love, or that seem fun. I continue to fight my fears of doing things I’ve never done before, and probably will for the rest of my life — not so much for fear of getting physically hurt, but for fear of getting emotionally hurt through humiliation.
Dogs don’t get humiliated. They get happy, tired, jealous, excited, angry, and sad, with happy being the default emotion. But they do get hurt. We all get hurt, sometimes. If we could all go on with the same attitude as my boy and keep on chugging along, doing our best to do the things we love, we will all live happier lives.
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Great post. It hurts not only the dog but the owner when your dog gets hurt. You want to make it all better right away and sometimes you just can’t do that. Dogs are like people and you need to take care of them like that. Dogs are life!
Comment by Matt— January 11, 2011 #
*like
Comment by pushingthirtyy— January 11, 2011 #
My gurl (Boston Terrier) does have a broken heart every morning that I leave for work. She literally lays at the front door waiting for me to get home. EVERYDAY. Then she flips and jumps about, tongue out, her black lipstick smile stretched ear to ear. She’s nearly 2 (in human years) and my best friend (of the fury sort)!
Comment by midnitechef— January 11, 2011 #
I am with you on that one. It’s the best to come home to someone who is always happy to see you!
Comment by pushingthirtyy— January 11, 2011 #
That’s a very good post! I am afraid of doing things that I haven’t done before in fears of getting humiliated…but lately I’ve come up with the same conclusion – you can’t live in a bubble. Like I kind of have a problem with talking to strangers on the phone but I guess it’s something I’ll have to get over. Good job!
-Tia
http://www.tiallarising.wordpress.com
Comment by tiallarising— January 11, 2011 #
Poor little boy! Pros & cons of being a parent! As long as he is happy because he looks like such a “cutey pie” & as long as you’re with him to hug him better I am sure he will carry on having fun!
Comment by ravingroo— January 11, 2011 #
Great post. My dog Blue recently had to have a back tooth removed because he cracked it on a cow bone.
Comment by Marie— January 12, 2011 #
hillbilly dogs unite!
Comment by pushingthirtyy— January 13, 2011 #
I love your post, and I totally understand where you are coming from, I love my pets like they are my kids!! I hope your puppy (big dog – with a big heart) gets better soon!! My dog loves tennis balls too… I think it’s in their DNA!!
Comment by secretz01— January 12, 2011 #
I know! I always wonder, “who would be throwing you the ball in the wild?” Thanks for reading. The pup comes up in my blog frequently 🙂
Comment by pushingthirtyy— January 13, 2011 #
Mr. H seems to have weathered his encounter with the pipe pretty well and this week we will be back at the park playing ball in the snow. Almost finished with the story. Remember that there is only one explanation for why dogs do things that are beyond explaining and that is that they are magical.
Great picture of Humphrey. Give him a big kiss from his Daddy.
Comment by Dad— January 13, 2011 #
will do!
Comment by pushingthirtyy— January 13, 2011 #