Aragorn
March 2003
| He followed me home, ma... |
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| Deb' sister Diana visited the cabin over Memorial day. It seems she is attractive to animals. We got to see some Billy Goats and a Lynx while she was there. |
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Saturday night, we were in the cabin with the door open playing cards. Di suddenly hollered out, "There's a dog at the door!" We chased it away and thought nothing of it until the next morning when the dog was still there. He was pretty raggedy and we gave him some water. He had a collar that was a little too tight, so I loosened it as far as it would go. We discussed it and decided some rancher would probably shoot him because there are wild dogs in that country that can take down a calf. So we took him home and advertised in the paper to see if anyone lost a dog.
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I suggested the name Aragorn cause he looked kinda regal. Unfortunately, his highness had fleas.
The girls raided the pet store and came back with shampoo and stuff and we gave him a bath.
He was a bit nervous but he stood still and didn't bite.
We combed and cut out a bunch of tangles and burrs.
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| Eventually, we took him to the groomer and chopped all his hair off. |
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| We noticed he walked fine but when running, he'd lift his back right paw. We looked for thorns and sores but couldn't see anything. We decided to take him to the vet to get shots and such and they x-rayed his leg. |
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Turns out he's got a dis-located hip, and has had it for awhile.
The vet sent us to a specialist and the specialists first suggestion was to do nothing at all!
Apparently dogs are good 3-legged runners. And Aragorn doesn't seem to be in any pain.
The specialist did say we had other options but they all would require 6 months recovery time.
And all options may result in arthritis eventually.
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 We told the specialist that we wanted to do what's best for the dog, but his advice couldn't be pinned down. He said he'd talk to his colleagues and get back to us. We called and left messages a week later, but we never heard from him since.
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Anyway, Aragorn seems to do just fine. Although he sometimes pisses on his leg because he can't lift it high enough! He's a good and happy dog. He doesn't lick much and he doesn't bark much and he doesn't potty in the house. I don't think anybody played with him much because he doesn't fetch or play tug-o-war. He loves pigs ears and his daily walk (although we wait til the sun goes down because the pavement is too hot for his paws).
| Meanwhile the neighbors across the road put up a fence around my favorite piece of land. I've had my eye on it for awhile. It backs up and unto the Mesa. It's also where the most deer trails wind around up there. Maybe someday... |
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Check back later, we'll take more pictures as time goes by...