A child or a dog?

I have recently concluded that Ray is more work than the average young child! The basis for that would seem to be nothing more than language. You can speak to a child and sometimes get a constructive response! Ray will respond, but it is unlikely to be too constructive!

“Something’s cooking around here … and it’s not food!”

Ray went to the vets this past Tuesday, and was going to be anesthetized (needed to do a biopsy on a lump on his upper gum line, and check his teeth etc. while he was “out”). For all the progress he has made since adopting me just over five years ago, we have to acknowledge that he is still a highly food motivated dog. This appointment therefore presented some major concerns, mainly over the necessity for him to fast for 12 hours!

Being a creature of routine and loving food, how could we get him to understand that he would not be getting breakfast at 7:30am? At least one can try and explain it to a child, and perhaps promise a treat after the procedure!

As I was typically the first one up in the morning, which dictated the routine that I gave him his breakfast, I decided to start sliding his breakfast time back. My goal was to get him back to 9:30, which will be when we  were due to arrive at the vets!

He always got treats when he visited the vets but, again because of the necessity for him to fast, that was not going to happen. We pre-arranged to take Ray for a number of “social visits” but he was not to be given treats!

I am always up around 5:00am, and go down into our basement to do some quiet computer work, and come backup around 7:30 to let Ray out and give him his breakfast.  Even with his breakfast time being moved back, on Tuesday morning I could not come back up stairs because he would anticipate going outside and then getting breakfast!

Tuesday was our garbage and recycling pickup day, which would not be very productive unless we put the containers out before leaving for the vets!

On Tuesday morning, we executed our plan!

I stayed down stairs until Carol was up and got him outside. She had already taken all his stuff (travel harness, leash, muzzle etc) out onto our back porch so she would have no reason to come back in with Ray (and couldn’t leave him on his own as he might just eat something!). She shouted down to let me know that they were going out.

I had all my outdoor clothes in the basement (he would know something  was wrong if he saw me put on my outdoor clothes before he had his breakfast … and we wanted to be on the road to the vets as fast as possible so he wouldn’t dwell on his empty stomach!).

As soon as I joined them outside, Carol got him into the car while I put out our garbage and recycling containers. We arrived at the vets … and Ray was duly taken care of. We now await the biopsy results!

Children really are so much easier to work with … at least under these circumstances! 🙂

48 thoughts on “A child or a dog?”

    • He is … and in so many ways. It is difficult to understand who would have abandoned him and why. They will never know what they are missing, but their loss is our gain. 🙂

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  10. When my dog has had to go to the vets with an empty stomach, I get up later in the morning and also don’t eat breakfast or even make a cup of coffee or tea. I figured that if she needs to be hungry, then it is poor form for me to eat in front of her. Fingers crossed on the biopsy results.

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    • Yes we do exactly the same. I have foregone by morning toast until Ray is in position to chew, as he always had a little piece of it! I almost had an apple today, until I remembered that I always slice it such that he gets some pieces of it. He could be back to chewing on Sunday, and then we can all get back to our normal routines! 🙂

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  11. Praying for good results. Lexi’s cancer showed as a huge, fast growing tumor in her mouth, but that does not sound like what you (Ray) are experiencing. Can’t wait to hear the good news, and take a deep, relieved breath.

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  13. Hugs and belated treats by proxy Colin. The waiting for the biopsy results for Maggie was stressful, not that she seemed to mind. However, we had believed they would remove the lump, but a different vet did the op and probably didn’t read beyond biopsy.
    We are glad we changed vets as the new guy removed it completely and Maggie is much better in herself.
    Hope all goes well with Ray and it’s benign like hers was.

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  14. Positive crossing of fingers for Ray’s results!
    Big dogs often seem parallel in ability to a 2 yr old human child…they flourish with routines and often know darn well what is going on – and may or may not decide to let you know that they know. THere’s language all right…but both selectively acknowledge the message. HAHA

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  15. I laughed. My cat Hazel is very similar. Her appointments are always at 8. She get’s breakfast at 7:15 and an early apt is easier. One problem I have is that I can’t take any changes for fasting appointments so ALL the food, including that for the other cats, has to be removed and they are never happy about that. Fortunately it’s doesn’t happen often. Hoping for good results from the biopsy.

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