That’s Jack – a typical Labrador. No sea too cold, no noise too loud, no food too disgusting. Always gives everything 100% whether chasing a ball on the beach or some creature in the woods he has no hope of catching. He is relatively small but strong and not frightened to have a word with other dogs who are irritating him or scaring his pals. But gorgeous too…loving and calm and well behaved, friendly to humans and tolerant of puppies. An all round ‘good boy’.
He’s almost 10 years old but looks younger and in that time has never really been ill except for the odd upset stomach (his own fault) and ear infection (swimming I think.) He’s never been injured either until a couple of weeks ago when he hurt his spine during his morning workout.
It was bad, his back legs just didn’t work any more…we thought it could be the beginning of the end. But he didn’t complain at all even when being manipulated by the vet, just hardly moved from under the kitchen table for about a week and even left his food one day (a first). The vet said nothing broken and recommended rest, painkillers and several more expensive options which we declined.
Anyway he has gradually improved and after 2 weeks I’d say he’s back at 80% fitness (except a bit fatter) but so distressing to see a dog like that out of action. It made me think we can learn a lot from dogs facing adversity such as patience, adaptability and not worrying too much about tomorrow.
