Lucky’s
not so Lucky Day
By
Cathy Collar
The
time had finally come to get our lab/pyrenees mix, Lucky, spayed. A possible
love affair with our english pointer, Romeo Rex, made this decision a
necessity. As I drive slowly to our farm I am dreading the process of loading a
very large dog that has not had much leash training into my Tahoe.
Pulling into the
yard I am greeted by my enthusiastic groupies; Shadow, our old black lab and
leader of our pack, Tess The Mess, our adventurous lab/greyhound mix, and Coco
Puff our lovable huggable lab/mutt. I cautiously back the Tahoe up to Lucky’s
kennel trying hard to keep track of my excited fans romping around outside.They are all
seeking the door I am going to open for my exit.
Gathering
Lucky’s leash and choke collar (yes choke collar she weighs 93 lbs and likes to
run!) I open the door. There all three dogs stand panting and whining and vying
for the spot where I am going to step next. After petting each one and giving
them some love, I move to my target.
Miss Lucky is
our gentle giant. She never jumps up on me and loves to be hugged, but when her
kennel door is about to be opened she gets way excited. She bounces, jumps and
rears up to her full five foot height ready to explode into her romp around the
farm. I have no desire to go Lucky chasing so I have to make sure to get my
body between her and the gate. If I can slip in before she gets out I can get
the choke collar on her and have some small amount of control.
Taking a deep
breath I cautiously open the gate.
Lucky tries to dart past my leg. I grab her by the collar jolting my arm
out of socket in the process. I have her, but I also have three other dogs
trying to get between us so they can be petted. I twist and turn and finally
get to the back door of the Tahoe and open it. Finding it impossible to get
Lucky’s choke collar on with her pulling and three other dogs trying to give me
kisses, I toss it into the back and hold onto Lucky with both hands.
I thought I had
this all planned out, but plan A is definitely not working. I pull Lucky over
to the Tahoe’s back door all ready to coax her in. At this time Shadow decides
she needs to go in first. After all she is top dog. I let her pass thinking
maybe if she is in there Lucky will follow. No way. Lucky dives underneath the
vehicle attempting to break out of my grasp. Letting one hand go I grab the bumper
saving myself from being drug under with her. Meanwhile Miss Tess decides she
needs to go for a ride too. Now I have two dogs in the Tahoe and one halfway
underneath. I pull and tug and finally get Lucky out from underneath the back
fender only to find that Coco has decided she would like to join in the fun.
Coco is quite
overweight and has a bad hip so even though she wants to get into the vehicle
she finds the jump way to hard so instead she stands in the doorway looking at
me like aren’t you gonna help me in? I nudge her out of the way and pause to
catch my breath. Now thoroughly ticked I lift Lucky’s large paws one at a time
into the Tahoe. Then with a quick maneuver I slide behind her and push her big
butt in. She has no other option than to go. I swiftly close the door before
she can jump out. Now I face my other problem. I still have two dogs that do
not need to go to the vet in the car. I crack the side door open where Shadow
is sitting. She hops to the back putting Lucky between her and the door. Lucky,
seeing an opportunity to get out, dives for the opening. I slam the door shut.
Okay, let’s see if Tess will be more obliging.
I gradually open
the back door grasping Lucky’s collar before she can jump. Tess and Shadow are
now by the two side doors. I call sweetly to Tess. “Here Tessy. Come here. Come
get some love.” Tess runs to me excited to get the extra attention. She is my
most devoted fan. As she reaches me I step back so she has to jump out to get
her reward. Once again I slam the door shut before Lucky escapes. While
praising Tess for being such a good girl, I search for a plan to outsmart
Shadow. Scanning the inside of the Tahoe I see Shadow’s eyes following my every
step. She is ready to move to a less grabable (yes for me this is a word and
all dogs know it very well) location when I open a door. I think to myself, “If
I can get Shadow into the front seat there won’t be enough room for her to
change places with Lucky.” Have I mentioned that Shadow is also a little hefty?
Well she is.
Dog biscuit in
hand I open the front door and hold out the tempting treat. Shadow takes the
bait! As she jumps into the front seat, I clutch her collar, which of course
comes off in my hands. Quickly I grab her ears and drag her out digging heels
and all and again slam the door shut before Lucky can flee. Slipping Shadows
collar back on her neck I scold her for being a bad dog, which gets me a
wagging tail and smile. Finally one hour later Lucky and I are off the vet.
As I drive down
the road with the air conditioner blasting in my face a thought forms in my
mind. On the next trip to the vet to get a dog fixed I do believe Romeo Rex should
be the passenger.
