Let me tell you about puppy love.  Her name is Lucy.  Bet you thought I was going to talk about young love.  Although crushes and the youth dating scene is quite intriguing, I am going to tell you about my puppy love. 

I have two puppy loves.  Waldo, my first puppy is now 4 and Lucy is 3 years old.  Both are shi-poos.  We call them “puppy” all the time because they are small.  Well, actually, Waldo is over 20 lbs, but little Lucy is a meer 10 lbs.  My story shall continue with puppy love Lucy and all the excitement in her life to date.

We got her at 7 weeks when she was just a wee, bitty furball.  Her little, hairy body was white and her head was covered in black hair.  Very funny because whenever she sat down, she looked like a defective snowman.  From the first visit to the veterinarian, we heard that her one leg was clicking and we could operate later to have it fixed.  (Well, she runs like the wind now and our theory is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.)  After 3 months of having Lucy at home, I noticed one day that her eyes were watering.  Hmmmm, that was odd.  I monitored it and by the next day it got worse.  We decided it was time to visit the vet and see what was going on.  Well, our usual vet was on vacation so we booked an appointment with one of the other doctor’s.  He provided me with some eye cream for her and home we went. 

So, I put this cream in her eyes, poor wee puppy.  I did this for 3 days and it didn’t seem to be getting better.  Not better at all.  We went back to the clinic and our regular doctor was there.  I told her about how I was taking a picture of Lucy running at me and I noticed that her lips were swollen and her eyes seemed like they were bugging out.  The vet handed me a few sheets of paper and said, “She has strangles.”  What the heck is strangles?  Well, she explained that strangles is a rare disease that some puppies get.  Basically the immune system goes into overdrive and if not treated, will actually lead to strangulation of the animal.  We collected our new set of pills and took puffy, puppy Lucy home again. 

Now, with Waldo, I took him to puppy training classes so he could learn to play and become a good dog.  Poor Lucy.  She was quarantined.  Her meds were so strong because basically they were killing her immune system so that her immune system wouldn’t kill her.  We were told NO being around other animals.  NO walks because she could pick up infections from the grass where other animals had been.  Poor Lucy.  So, I packed up my little 3 lb puppy and tucked her into a soft padded square lunch tote and carried her around outside so that she could see the world and hear its sounds so that she would get accustomed to them.

Three months passed and therapy was over.  YAY!  Now we could go for walks and do other fun things.  Lucy was not a good walker.  She could walk but would zig and zag between my legs and get wrapped up in Waldo’s leash.  And she barked…endless barking and barking and barking and barking at anything that passed her.  I think she has supersonic hearing.  She will start barking at nothing and then 2 minutes later we will see a bus drive by.  Well, I guess with all her other ailments something must work well.  Oh, did I mention that the reason why her eyes were always watering.  We heard from the vet that her bottom eyelashes are turned inward instead of outward so her tear ducts are constantly working.  Uh huh.  That’s the Life of Lucy.

Well, our little puppy love survived all those ailments.  She loves to play fetch.  She loves to jump around and have fun.  She loves to cuddle.  Monkey Breath calls her “old man” cause her face does look like that of an old man.  We like to call her Fang too because her underbite (yup, she has that too) leaves her one canine tooth jutting out.  Quite funny to see.

Right now, little Lucy is in surgery.  Yes it’s true.  I found her little butt swollen yesterday.  How it happened I have no idea.  Back to the vet.  This part is quite icky gross so I’ll let you read it if you would like the details.  Swollen anal gland.  Her’s ruptured.  ‘Nuff said.  So, now she is having surgery.

I am sure that in the future there will be more visits to the vets for Lucy.  Call it intuition or déjà vu.  There is one thing that amazes me about this furry little 10 lb wonder.  No matter what kinds of ailments life throws at her she always bounces back.  She runs and plays and enjoys life.  I know that animals can’t complain, but I don’t see her cowering in a corner and giving up on life.  Most of us have been through tough times in our lives where we just want out of the world and curl up into a ball and feel sorry for ourselves.  My puppy love is always loving and cuddly no matter how she feels.  When she barks she is invincible.  Every moment is enjoyed.  Even while sleeping, you will oftentimes find her on her back with her belly in the air.  Now that’s comfort.

Five years ago I would’ve thought anyone crazy to have such strong feelings about their pets.  Now I’m part of the crazy club of dog owners and loving my puppy love.