My mother has me worried. We were playing outside and suddenly her back legs just seemed to give out. She gave a moan and then lay on her side.
“Momma!” I shouted and rushed over to her.
My mother Schatze is a beautiful dachshund with soft red hair. Her eyes are kind and she never gets mad at me. That has to be hard. I’m a dachshund puppy with a knack for trouble! I swear I don’t go looking for it, but somehow it always manages to find me.
“Momma, are you okay?” I nudged at her with my nose.
“Oliver, you need to get Trudy. Something is wrong with my back legs.” She gave me a soft smile and said, “Hurry, son.”
I took off for the doggy door as fast as my short legs would carry me. Darting through it, I began barking.
“What in the world?” Trudy was at the stove, but she stared down at me, open mouthed as I barked at her.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked, coming in to the kitchen. “Is that Oliver? He never barks like that.”
I hopped all around, barking and then I dashed back through the doggy door, hoping they would follow me. When they didn’t come out, I dashed through the door again.
“Maybe he wants to play,” Trudy suggested. “Jack, go outside and see if you can wear that dog out.”
Jack agreed and went to the laundry room to put on his shoes. It seemed like the process took forever. I’ve never understood why it’s necessary to tie those string things together anyway! Finally, he started moving to the back door.
I zipped out the doggy door and ran to Momma. She still lay in the grass, only now she was whimpering.
“I’m back, Momma,” I said, licking her head. “Jack is on the way.”
“Good,” she whispered.
But he didn’t come outside. What could be keeping that guy?
I ran in again and collided with his legs. He was standing with his hand on the door, but talking to Trudy. Not caring about the consequences, I nipped at his pants legs.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Jack laughed. “He’s really feisty today!”
He bent over to pet me, but I sidestepped him. This wasn’t the time to play!
“Well, come here little buddy. Don’t you want me to pet you?”
I barked a “No!”
“Where’s Schatze?” Trudy looked around. At Momma’s name, I barked louder.
“Maybe she’s outside,” Jack said and opened the back door.
Finally! Barking the whole time, I ran out into the back yard and stood over Momma.
Jack walked over. As soon as he heard Momma’s whimpers, his face turned serious.
“Trudy! Trudy, come out here!” Jack shouted.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Trudy wiped her hands on a dishtowel as she came outside.
“Come take a look at Schatze.”
Trudy hurried over and knelt down in the grass to see better. She ran a soothing hand across Momma’s head. “Uh-oh. Look at her back legs. They look funny to me.”
My momma tried to get closer to Trudy but she couldn’t stand up.
“That’s not good. Her little tail is tucked down, too. I think her legs must have given out.”
“Given out?” Jack frowned. “But she’s not overweight anymore. I thought that stuff only happened if dachshunds jumped off things.”
“Not always. Sometimes it can happen during playtime, too. Besides, we don’t know what Oliver and Schatze were doing out here. Also, Schatze is an older dog,” Trudy pointed out. “We need to get her to a vet right away. The first twenty four hours are critical.”
Critical? That didn’t sound good. I watched as Trudy carefully picked Momma up and carried her in the house. A few minutes later, my family took Momma away to the vet. I sat at the window, watching them go. They were in such a hurry, so worried, that they hadn’t put me in my crate.
Now I was worried. I paced the house, listening for any sign that they had returned, and while I walked, I thought back to what we’d been doing outside: jumping and running. We like to play chase with a tennis ball that Olivia left outside. It’s just the right size to carry around in our mouths, and we are always trying to see who can get it away from the other one. Sometimes this involves running around all kinds of obstacles like the porch or the shrubs or even my sandbox.
The sandbox. Now I remembered what happened. I had the ball and Momma had taken a short cut through my sand box. She’d jumped over the short rail that kept the sand in and that’s when she’d fallen down.
But Momma had done that a million times before. How could such a thing have hurt her so much this one time? Depressed, I traveled back outside to take a look at the sandbox.
I was examining it when Bonnie Belle, my girlfriend, called to me.
“Oliver, what are you doing?” Her nose stuck through the hole in our fence.
“My mother got hurt.” The words came out like a whine. I didn’t care about putting on a manly display for Bonnie Belle. I was too worried about Momma. “Her back legs gave out!”
“Oh, no,” Bonnie Belle said, clearly upset for me. “The poor thing.”
“My family took her to the vet, but it feels like a long time has passed. I don’t know what to do.”
“Hang in there, Oliver,” Bonnie said. “I’m sure everything will okay.”
I know Bonnie Belle meant well, but her words did little to make me feel better. After a few more minutes of chit chat, I headed back in the house and settled in my crate to wait. The sun shot rays of light in through the window which casts shadows on the wall. I watched those shadows grow longer and longer as the day passed. Finally, they were gone and darkness settled in on my house.
Where was everyone? How was Momma? What was going on?
At last, I heard a car pull into the driveway. Headlights brightened the living room wall and voices outside lifted my spirits. My family was home! My momma was back!
But right away, I could tell something was still wrong. Momma wasn’t with them, and the whole family looked tired and sad.
I barked and ran to Trudy who bent over to pick me up.
“There’s my sweet, Oliver,” she said and kissed me on the head. “Schatze is staying at the vet’s overnight.”
That couldn’t be good. Whenever one of us got sick, we visited the vet’s office but we always came home the same day. What was wrong with Momma? They all seemed too tired to talk about it.
“Olivia, go on and get a shower,” Trudy told her daughter.
“Momma is Schatze going to be alright?” Olivia rubbed at her eyes and yawned.
“I hope so. The ruptured discs in her back make it impossible for her to walk right now. I’m just glad we took her in right away. Otherwise, Schatze would have been in even more trouble.”
“Is she going to die?”
Die? What was Olivia talking about? Momma couldn’t die.
“No, honey, I don’t think so.” Trudy kissed my head again. “She’s too ornery to do something like that. Besides, I think we got to her in time.”
Olivia went to get ready for bed, but I stayed close to Trudy and Jack, wanting to hear more about Momma.
“That was a close call for Schatze,” Jack said and sat down on the couch. Trudy sat down next to him, and I snuggled between them, my ears pricked up. “Do you think we did the right thing?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“That surgery for her back cost a lot of money.”
“Jack, it’s Schatze. We couldn’t not do it. She’s been part of our family since before Olivia was even born.”
“I know. I just wish there was a guarantee that the surgery will let her walk again.”
“Me, too. All we can do is hope for the best. We’ll have to do those exercises with her the doctor suggested.” Trudy gave a long sigh and stroked my head. Her touch made me close my eyes. The worry of the day started to ebb away.
It sounded like Momma might not be able to walk again. What would that be like? How would she cope? Would we still be able to play ball together? What if the same thing happened to me?
It was all just too much to think about right then. Dachshunds worry a lot, and I was no different than anyone else where that was concerned. I tried not to think about it anymore. Or at least not for the rest of the night.
Momma would be okay. Momma was strong and feisty like me. She could do anything. She had to be okay. She had to walk again.
She just had to!
****
(…to be continued)
Related posts:
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Protects His Family
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Gets Fleas
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Goes Camping
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Enjoys a Midnight Snack. Or Two.
- Puppy Tails – Oliver Gets First Aid
