Polly: Chapter 2

(My Polly posts are more for family than anyone, so skip over them if dogs aren't your thing! I'll get back to my self-depricating ways soon.)

Once we got Polly home we quickly realized that this dog needs demands some serious attention. Since I wasn't yet married, Polly lived with Papa and Granny, too. Oh, the two of them were staunchly opposed to me having a dog and wanted me to leave her at Adam's house. As Polly grew physically, she also grew on everyone's hearts. Now, Papa misses her when she's not around and Granny will hesitantly admit that she misses her, but it's a "good miss." Ha. Granny's always got jokes.

Aside from being cute, Polly has also proven to be a fragile dog. When she was six months old, she broke her leg. Actually, it was her hip. She had a FHO (femoral head ostectomy) to remove the "ball" from the "socket" and has been healing from that surgery ever since. The night after her surgery was the second worst night of sleep I've ever had.  She slept in the bed with me and would wake up yelping in pain from the surgery. It was so sad I would just hold her while she whimpered herself back to sleep. Since she can't really bear full weight on her right leg, the muslces in that leg are less toned and smaller than her left leg. She walks with a limp sometimes but let me assure you that she is lighting fast.

Today, the only way you would be able to tell that she has a problem with her leg is to a) look closely or b) feel it. I wouldn't recommend b. She kind of bites at you. And snarls. But it's a love snarl. She just doesn't want anyone messing with it!

Just when we thought we were out of the woods, Polly sustained a back injury just after the New Year. We didn't know what it was immediately, we just knew that she was barking and in a lot of pain. Like, she barked NON-STOP for four hours. $200 and a visit to the middle of NOWHERE, we had no diagnosis from an emergency vet and a pocket full of pain killers and tranquilizers. That night was the THE worst night of sleep I've ever had! It took a lot of meds to put her to sleep! I'm talking tongue hanging out, insane amounts of drool and lots of nasty farts. I was scared that we had over medicated her so I woke up every few minutes to make sure that she was still breathing.

The next morning, we took her to her regular vet. Within five minutes the Doctor came to the conclusion that she had a broken vertebrae right between her hips. This part of the spinal column happens to control bladder and intestinal control. Read: she might be peeing and crapping everywhere FOREVER. Luckily for Polly, one shot of steroids set her right again and she hasn't whimpered since!

I literally went from thinking my dog was going to need wheels to barely being able to control her as she pulled me toward the door of the vets office. Now, when we ride through town she whines when we get near the doggy hospital. It's like she knows!

I am happy to report that since that awful day Polly has had zero problems with her back and she is running at full speed. And chasing vermin.

Ciao

Polly: Chapter 1

*I actually had this following post drafted a long time ago and just found it again!

It seems that I have had my poodle pup for almost a year and have never fully explained how I came to own her. As I looked into her big brown eyes this morning, she said to me "Mom, why haven't you told your friends all about me? You must not love me." Sigh. She's right. It's time for Polly stories. And, oh, do I have stories to tell!

By a twist of fate, I came to discover that my brother's friends' dad had a litter of standard poodle puppies that he was giving away. For free. So, two days later, I found Granny and myself driving across town to pick up the pup.

Let me back up. When I called to inquire about the puppies, this is what I was told.

"I've got one little girl left. She's spunky. She loves playing with her brothers. I'm keeping two, but I've got this one left. I've got poodles running out of my ears, so the sooner you can get her the better. I'm giving them away for a friend who has fallen on hard times."

"Oh! What a sweet story! He has a sweet little spunky poodle and it just so happens that she's going to be mine! I bet she'll be the sweetest, calmest, most non-destructive puppy EVER," I naively thought. After all, I had read that the standards are docile dogs who just like human company. Easy. Chill. Mellow yellow.

So, two days after that fateful phone call, granny and I geared up to go get her. On the way over, I got a phone call from the gentleman saying that he was running a little behind because he had to catch the puppy and that had been a difficult task and that he would be five minutes late.

I heard a dog screaming over the phone. Uh oh.

When he got there, he plopped her down on the grass and smiled.

"She likes to ride in my jacket so that she feels safe. She's only five weeks old so she's going to need a lot of attention since she's been weaned so early. She'll eat regular dog food and water so you shouldn't have any problems. She's a real sweet dog."

Let me tell you, she was the cutest little thing I have ever seen. Here's a pic of her when we got her home:

 She was really the cutest puppy I've ever seen!

Someone doesn't know how big (or small) they are!

About a week later, my brother's pal was at the house working out when Polly and I came in to say hello.

"Oh, I didn't know that YOU got her..."

"What do you mean? Isn't she the cutest!"

"Yeah she's cute alright. She was the meanest one! She would beat the crap out of her brothers and sisters! She's not even the biggest one but she would have them all screaming for mercy."

Oh. Great. Monster dog! I had, in fact, gotten a hold of the Alpha female.

She couldn't even get over the front door threshold!

Granny's solution to potty training. Put a diaper on her!

This sweet puppy is no more than a WMD incognito. Just you wait.

It's the end of my work day so I have to go home and see what Polly has destroyed. I'll catch you up to date tomorrow.