Members of the Family

So.

While my mom and brother are in Illinois and Missouri, I am house sitting and taking care of Festivus. I know it's not the Festivus time of year. For the less informed or forgetful, Festivus is the dog. I would like to claim him as my own because mine is the name on his adoption papers but he is truly my sister's dog.

Festivus is, for lack of a better term, a spaz. I love my dog because he's so off the wall crazy in love with every human or non-human that comes through the front door. I think he has ADD. Would I love him less if there were doggie ADD? Nope. He's Festivus and always will be.

I felt bad that I left my apartment so late because I took a monster nap after some Bountiful Temple work, a meal, and great conversation at Cafe Rio. In some ways I felt I deserved it. Problem: I completely forgot the dog probably needed to use the bathroom. I'm so busy taking care of myself I sometimes forget about the remainder of God's creatures (if you know what movie this comes from, I'll give you...something). I head out to my brother's house to get the dog some bathroom time.

I was sitting on the steps to the house telling my dog to do his business. He started running up the stairs had he totally missed one. This is typical behavior for Festivus so I thought nothing of. Festivus has been known to trip over nothing on the floor so seeing him miss the step to the house made me laugh, call him silly, and go on our merry way. I sat down at the computer, turned on my brother's iTunes, and started surfing the world wide interweb that is on computers now. I hear some rustling over on his pillows. I look over my shoulder and he's nursing his paw. This can't be good.

I look at his paw and his left front dewclaw is screaming red. I called his doctor but they were closed. I then called the Pet E.R. on 2oth East and 62nd South. I described the situation and they told me to bring him in. Now, putting a dog in the back seat of your car is hard enough. Add an injury to that and you might as well know that you need to vacuum and spot clean once the trip is through.

We get to the Pet E.R. and they are very helpful. It's nice to know that not all people are afriad of dogs. They were so kind to him and only wanted to help him. I kept talking to my poor little Festie. I was trying to reassure him, and myself, that these people were there to help him and were going to fix him (It's okay, Festivus, they're here to help you. This is where a lot of other hurt doggies come, just like you. These are nice people that are going to make you feel better.). After the nurse took his vitals the vet came in took his look at it and said, "Well we're going to have to cut it off. It's quite painful because that's where all the nerve endings are so we're going to sedate him then give him a reversal so he can come right out of it. I'm going to take him back now so we can get this done."

My eyes became saucers. I asked the doctor of veternary medicine, "Can I come back there with him or do I have to stay here?"

With his eyes filling with empathy and a concerned brow furrow he said, "You're going to have to stay here."

My heart sank. Festivus is the closest thing I've had to a child. I knew there was no other choice. Reluctantly I handed over the leash of my Festuvus to the vet. I reminded Festuvus that he'd only be gone for a little bit and that they were going to help him. I knew everything was going to be okay because when the doctor opened the door to leave Festivus' tail was still high and wagging. It's that little reassurance I needed. He's still my happy doggie.

After being resigned to the doggie exam room, I called my dad. He has three dogs that he and his wife regularly take four-wheeling. We're a dog family. I told him of my plight and he laughed at me further confirming the bet we made after Festivus' first trip to the vet when he was washed of his fleas. Dad said, "In this dog's lifetime, I suspect he'll have to use a cone, he'll break one of his legs, and we'll have to bail him out of jail." Well, Festuvus has been injured so many times without breaking his leg that I'm really glad that he isn't the next Speedy. I don't think he's done anything illegal and he totally hated the cone so we got some pictures and never put it on him again.

The nurse brings him back into the doggie exam room and my poor dog looks drunk. He was stumbling all over the place, running into things, and the look on his face was priceless. He also had a doggie ace bandage wrapped around his leg from his elbow to his paw (all this for a dewclaw?). His little toenails were sticking out the bottom of it. He was coming out of his sedation. She told me to walk him around the waiting room and that would wake him up. As I was doing that she was charging my bank account for an undisclosed amount (think emergency room). As I was signing the little slip of paper, Festivus sat down and his front paws slid from underneath him and he ended up on the floor. My poor doggie. I got him into the car and we went home.

Fortunately Trish and Tristan were at the house to help document this event. They got video footage.