This is not what I'd planned to write as my next post and not a post I expected to write this soon. On Wed, 30 Sep, my Teddy, who you might remember had a heart condition, had what I think was a heart attack or stroke and passed over to the Bridge.
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| Teddy loved toys |
I'll spare you all the worst of the details. We had a normal evening, dinner, a little play time, bed time cookies and cuddles on the couch. I went up to bed early as Liam was to have had a hoopers class the next morning. Teddy came up to bed with me and plunked himself down in the middle of the room. I got up later to go to the bathroom and he was still lying on the carpet at the end of the bed. I got back into bed, then I heard what I initially thought was Teddy trying to roll over onto his back. But I quickly realized it sounded more like flailing or thrashing. I turned on the lights and sat up in bed. I could see Teddy lying there, I called but he made no movement. I got up and went to him, he regurgitated his dinner, I had to hold his head up for him. I got a blanket to put on my bed and carried him over to the bed, while I cleaned up, he never moved. I thought perhaps I should get dressed and take him to the emergency hospital. The nearest hospital is about a half hour drive from me and I didn't think he would make it. I was right, within about 20 minutes of me getting up Teddy had passed. I laid with him in bed for about 10 minutes, telling him he would be all right as his breathing got slower and shallower. Later that night I moved Teddy to a chair in my room and called my vet's office as soon as they opened in the morning and brought him over where they could take care of him.
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| Teddy's 3rd Birthday |
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| COVID Lockdown |
For those that haven't followed our story, I adopted Teddy just before he turned 3. He belonged to a friend's cousin and there was an issue with allergies so they couldn't keep Teddy. My friends brought him to me for a trial; they brought Teddy on 9 Mar 2020 and were supposed to come back in May. Well, on 13 Mar 2020, COVID lockdown happened. Teddy and my dog, Keltic became my COVID isolation crew. Teddy celebrated his third birthday with Keltic and me. As COVID restrictions went on, my friends couldn't come back as planned but by May, Teddy was with me to stay. Later on that summer, a puppy would be added to our crew and Teddy became a good big brother to Liam
Teddy was a quirky dog. He was reactive with other dogs on walks but fine with them when we went to events where there were many other dogs. Teddy was noise sensitive, smoke detectors were understandable, but he also hated power drills, electric knives, squeaky drawers, whistles, heart monitors beeping (on TV) to name a few. Any of these noises would cause him to bark nearly endlessly. Over time though he did begin to recognize there was nothing to bark at when I said: "It's on TV". I'll miss saying that now. Teddy couldn't do stairs when he arrived, I taught him to do stairs quickly and then he loved doing stairs. I think going upstairs to bark became his refuge when he was upset. And boy, Teddy could bark. I let him bark once just to see how long he would bark for; it was 45 minutes before he stopped barking but that only lasted about 5 minutes before he started again. You had to go up and reassure him with some belly rubs or cuddles before he would stop.
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| Covid Crew |
Teddy dabbled in dog sports. He never earned any titles. We started with agility. He took to it quite quickly, he had confident teeter and was a fish in the weaves. At his very first trial, he got two qualifying scores but after a few trials Teddy decided he didn't want to do agility. We gave scent detection a try. Teddy did quite well and did a little jig with his back feet to let me know that he'd located the odour. I loved watching him looking for the scent when I let him loose to do a practice room searches. Unfortunately, there weren't many scent trials near us and they were more expensive to enter than agility. We also gave ratting a try, Teddy again learned quickly and did his little jig when he found the rats. Teddy developed an interdigital cyst that kept coming back like a blood blister so I worried about infection with him having to search for the rats in straw so his ratting career didn't go far either.
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| First Agility Trial |
Teddy learned to like travelling and camping in the trailer. We went all the way to Alberta one summer and down to Nova Scotia on another. I'm glad that I was able to take Teddy down east to PEI this past summer where he got to go wading and sleep in the trailer. Teddy loved to wade and bark (of course) at waves. I took a last camping trip after getting back from France. I'm glad now for Teddy that I made that trip. There was no wading but there was a couple short hikes where Teddy led the way. He got to see deer and sit by the camp fire. He also had his first pupcup.
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| Last Camping Trip Hike |
I'll miss those eyes!
