This is the sequel to “Therapy Dog” as written in 2009.
On a typical spring weather weekend, I had the occasion to care for Toffee and his brother Chase. Their sister, Butter, traveled with Mom and Dad to visit family over the Memorial Day holiday. She has more privileges because she has reached golden years, but I think she will live many years longer than any of us expect. She’s a Labrador and larger dogs usually have shorter lives, but as I’m writing this, she has already celebrated her 12th birthday!
This story is about her youngest housemate – Toffee. You remember, Toffee, my therapy dog from the previous chapter. He’s continuing to recover and has completed may stages of his rehab and relearning. He’s had recent surgery where a surgical “plate’ was fused in his foot. I’m not sure what the procedure was and have not asked for details. All I know is that his leg has been in a full cast and no amputation was necessary, which was what I had prayed for all along. His surgeon is quite hopeful that he will regain the use of his foot and I’m ecstatic!
I’m constantly amazed at his patience and easy going manner. He just does what a dog does; doesn’t matter to him if he’s burdened with a boot, cast, baby sock, tape, gauze, etc. He’s just living life and loving life and happy and carefree.
This particular weekend, our weather forecaster promised a few thunderstorms during the DAYLIGHT hours. No problem for us. Chase and Toffee will (on voice command) do what they need to do in any weather; especially if I accompany them. It’s just part of the job to always be prepared with a suitcase of essential wardrobe changes, flashlight (and batteries), overnight bag, treats for dogs and cats, extra fish food, individual client files (with recent shot records) and packaged snack foods for me. I’m always ready to couch it and obtain my client’s permission to do so.
Guess what? It rained that weekend NON STOP. We got soaked after breakfast and again mid-day, just after dinner and that final before bed get the wiggles out run around the perimeter of the back yard. It thundered all day. The sky brightened with lightning flashes all day. The boys were my only full-time charges and as I was driving with my emergency flashers on at a safe speed, headed out for my last visit, I said to myself: “Self, I’m couching it at Toffee’s”. It didn’t make sense to me to come home and start this nonsense all over again at 5:30 the following morning.
I pulled into the driveway around 10:15 p.m. that Friday night and grabbed my overnight bag and ran inside. I was dripping all over the doormat and realized the alarm had been set and hurried to disarm it. My two dry companions looked at me in my rain gear and knew it was time to go out. No resistance, we all went out and came right back in. No desire for a final sniff around the yard.
It didn’t take me too much time to get ready for “couch”. I knew where the linens were and I borrowed a pillow from the guest suite and headed to dreamland about 11:00 or so. Toffee and Chase had beds, which I had brought in from the screened sun porch, and everyone settled in for the night. I was somewhat bothered by a blue light which indicated that the automated coffee brewer was on standby. I almost unplugged the thing, but thought better of my decision, because some people can not function without their morning coffee.
So, I had the glow of the blue light coming in from the kitchen, and the rattling of the rain on the tiled roof and the occasional boom of the thunder and the lightning all going on as I drifted off.
Sometime after hearing the unison of snoring going on in the living room, I felt a “clunk” on my head. I opened up one eye and saw the cast on Toffee’s leg somewhere near my left ear and shoulder. The rest of him had snuggled in between me and the back of the couch He was asleep, having just shifted to a more comfortable position. What to do? My maternal instinct kicked in (although I had not needed to rely on it for over a decade), and I did nothing. I just laid there on my side facing the blue light and considered my options.
I could completely awaken and MOVE Toffee to the floor and into his bed or… completely awaken and CALL Toffee to move the floor and into his bed or…close my eyes and forget it.
I chose the last option. How in the world did I not feel him jump up on the couch and move along me in the first place? A plaster cast dragging behind a fifty-pound dog should have jostled me from sleep. Nope, their three cushion couch was comfy and I was used to sleeping partners of various breeds in my own home. I learned quite some time ago that sleep will come eventually!
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