The Pet Pages - Kim Aranha
Buddy's Story, Part 6: "A brush with disaster"
By Kim Aranha
Jan 9, 2008 - 9:32:29 AM

There is little or no doubt that if the word “NAUGHTY” did not already exist in the English language it would have been invented especially for Buddy.

He is quite the sweetest, cutest, and most adorable of puppies, But….he gets himself into more trouble than any other puppy I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

At nine months and one week old, Buddy is the King of all, at least in his puppy mind. There is no obstacle too hard to overcome, there is no kitchen table too high to steal from, there is no sofa too fancy to sleep on, nor carpet too precious to chew, everything within reach is fair game in Buddy’s active little mind.

Just before Christmas Day (on the 18^th of December to be precise) we went out to dinner with friends, not far from home and not late back. We left Buddy and his partner in crime, Chief, in the kitchen. I thought that I had adequately secured everything on the counter tops that would be of interest to them or would be within reach! When we returned the kitchen was in shambles, I had sorely underestimated the brilliance and determination of one Labrador puppy coupled with the ingenious mind of the adolescent Potcake! The wrapper from a loaf of bread sat crumpled on the floor, various plastic utensils lay abandoned on the floor partially chewed, papers, paper towels, everything, everywhere. I checked the counter top where I keep the daily dog pills and to my horror I found that the only “medication” bottle was missing. All the harmless herbal remedies sat untouched. Spats’s medication to help control his frequent “puddle problem” was missing. The bottle was made of very thick sturdy plastic with a childproof cap (please note I said childproof, not puppy proof!). Then the sickening confirmation came when Buddy ran back in from the garden, tail wagging, two hundred to the dozen with the squashed and empty pill bottle in his mouth. A quick calculation confirmed that Buddy (and perhaps Chief) must have eaten approximately 25 pills.

I immediately called my dear friend Dr. Valentino Grant, he told me to bring both puppies to the Caves office of Palmdale Veterinary Clinic...

We got there within minutes and Dr, Grant met us there. Buddy and Chief were in good spirits, in fact, marginally hyper, to put it mildly. They saw Dr. Grant and made a beeline for him, covering him with greetings. The glass office door shut firmly behind them leaving their humans out “in the cold”, when Dr. Grant came back to open the door they decided to become territorial and refused to let him come between them and the door to let us in. Poor Dr. Grant, it put his “doggy skills” to the ultimate test, but his calm knowledge of dogs and their behaviour prevailed and within a short space of time they had returned to the tail wagging friends they had been minutes before.

Then the fun started, as the most important thing was to make them vomit because of the pills that they had ingested. One positive point was that they had also eaten a full loaf of Roman Meal bread so, that, hopefully, the pills had been somewhat “diluted” in their stomachs. Neither dog enjoyed having large amounts of hydrogen peroxide syringed into their mouths. It became rapidly apparent that Buddy had had the lion’s share of the pills as his eyes became very dilated, his breathing very fast, he began twitching and all the fur along his backbone began to stand straight up on end, a real “Mohawk doggie”!

Poor Buddy, he was not a happy camper. If I had not been so scared I would have been able to see the funny side of it. As, no mater what copious amounts of hydrogen peroxide was poured down his throat, he did not throw up, Dr. Grant decided to put him on a drip. Buddy was having none of this, he didn’t want his fur shaved on his little leg, and he most certainly did NOT want a needle stuck into him. It took two of us holding him down, finally the drip in place he settled down his head in my lap…when….all of a sudden…I felt something warm, I also saw the look of controlled hilarity around me, Buddy had thrown up, all right!….all over me ! UGH! But I was pleased, he had freed up some of those pills. I cleaned up to the best of my ability under the circumstances. Buddy, quite pleased with himself, promptly made a quick jerky movement and pulled out the I.V. so we have to start all over again with the other leg. Chief appeared to be none the worse for ware so my other son took him home. We followed suit shortly after with Buddy.

When we got home my son and his friend were scrubbing out the car as the hydrogen peroxide had finally done it’s bit with Chief, in the car, and he had thrown up EVERYWHERE! Ah!! The joys of dog ownership! That night Buddy slept in my room, next to my bed and I had to check him every hour, in the morning, he was very quiet and sorry for himself, it took three whole days for him to return back to normal, and the bouncy Buddy we all know and love. Chief, of course, was fine right away, as we presume that he never got hold of any of the pills.

Buddy was quiet and docile for two days after this unfortunate event. I had always wished for a quiet and docile Buddy, but when I had one, I was devastated. I couldn’t stand that quiet little face, that drooping tail, and the way he curled up with his head resting on his tail. He became withdrawn and remote, I felt GUILTY, because I knew that I should have been more careful. After all, I am the one who writes the articles on how to care for your pets, and I messed up BIG TIME!

I watched his breathing; I stroked his little head and whispered how much we all loved him….. And the third morning……Whoa! Buddy was well again and the house has NEVER been the same again!

I am ultra careful when I go out now, I put EVERYTHING up, and I am so happy to have my little devil back with us again! In fact, I have now become extremely cautious and have secured EVERYTHING, no matter how sturdy the bottles, in a drawer that Buddy does not know how to open…..YET….I hope.

My husband tells me that Buddy needs training….Yes, I guess that is right, so, my new year’s resolution is quite certainly to “train Buddy”, or perhaps it will end up being the other way round. I can just envisage, now, the countless hours that will be spent with “me” on a leash whilst Buddy most determinately tries to coax, pull, and coerce me to the direction he wishes to go, will I have the self discipline and resolve to persevere and turn Buddy into the perfect Gentleman?  

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