Update on Jack

Jack has really been one of just a handful or less of my priorities since I started work.  I seem to require an inordinate amount of sleep, making it difficult to fit in much other than the basics.  I can't help but think of the many who have the same responsibilities that I have and far more, and I literally marvel at their ability to accomplish.

As a quick update then, on one of the foremost beings in my life, I have to tell you all that Jack is a very mischievous boy!  He loves to have things in his mouth, and at times is constantly picking things up that don't belong to him to carry around.  This includes binkies, toys, blocks, books, shoes, blankets, newspapers, garbage, etc.  He also has the necessary height to dig into bathroom and kitchen garbage and recycle cans, prop his front paws up against the kitchen counter and table, and reach whatever he fancies.  Given all this, he really is fairly well-behaved, as he doesn't really cause any damage if there are people around.  As a side note though, I have learned that one of his favorite foods is butter.  The other is snow.  Anyway, we are trying hard to keep things out of his reach, but it is an adjustment made more difficult by years of habit and 6 independently-minded people.  As another side note, I have made a gift to him of one of the many magazines that are mailed to me unsolicited; BRIDE magazine.  He adores carrying it around with him.

On November 19, my birthday, my dad was in the hospital recovering from surgery to repair a spontaneous pneumothorax, which is air in the chest cavity due to a hole in the lung.  After dinner with the 5 of us at home and Kathie and her family, we all dashed off to the hospital to visit my dad.  Jack has been left alone inside before with no problems, so although I didn't and don't feel overly comfortable with the idea, I left him.  Too cold outside for my little inside doggie.

When I got back about 2 1/2 hours later, I found that Jack had swallowed anywhere from 200-400mg of prescription Lyrica, which is used for depression, sleep issues, and nerve pain.  I'll side-step the question of why he had access to this. 

I looked online for a nearby vet with emergency services, called and explained, and was told to bring him in.  I brought him in, wondering how much of the night I would spend there.  They gave him an injection of apomorphine to induce vomiting so that they could look at what was in his stomach.  As a side note, among other stuff, they also found chewed up birthday candles, the ones we had used on the cake that night.  They also did some research on similar situations with similar dogs.  They determined that he should be fine and I could take him home.  So after only an hour, I was driving him back home.  Apparently apomorphine can have a sedating effect, so he had trouble getting out of the car and walking inside.  By the time he got to the stairs down to my bedroom, he was practically falling with every step.  He slept like the dead that night, and seemed fine in the morning, though perhaps a little mellow still.  I was working at the temple that morning, and with everyone else's schedules being whatever they were, he was left alone again for a short period of time.  When my mom came back, she found that he had eaten all ten pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in a package we had brought home from the hospital room the night before.  Lovely.

No additional mishaps since then, but regardless, I really need to give him some serious training!  Stay tuned for a few short videos of Jack playing in the snow.  I'll post them as soon as I get them off my camera.

(Don't miss the post from below - I posted twice today.)