Dogleg

Hello, dear reader!

And, as those of you who have the somewhat dubious pleasure of following these inane ramblings might expect, welcome to a blog post all about fitness.

Yes, the last couple of weeks has seen me muse about New Year aims and goals (not resolutions, which I think are self-defeating), and set out a few of these in regard to my own health and a landmark birthday that is on the fast approaching horizon. So, it only seems natural that, this week, we continue with that theme

Although, perhaps, not in the way you were thinking.

Dog Days
You see, It’s not just me that is feeling the pinch of the advancing years, and nor is it Tina, my eternally youthful wife, who is, at least nominally, a fully functional adult and therefore completely in charge of her own destiny.

No, in this case, it’s the dog.

Bonnie, the pooch in question, has featured in blog posts of the past but, for anyone who missed those (for shame!) she is a ten year old Labrador/Springer Spaniel cross who has lived with us since she was a pup.

Now, they do say that every year in a human being’s life is worth 7 in a dog’s life, and that would make Bonnie seventy years old. This, in conjunction with her breeding and the fact she still, on occasion, believes she is a puppy and capable of frantic outbursts of absurd energy without consequence (and, on cue, she races to the window to bark at some army of invisible interlopers bent on our destruction).

Sadly, the truth is, Bonnie is getting old, and is doing so at a faster rate than either Tina, or I. It’s started to lead to some problems.

Hip To It
The chief of these is an issue with her right hip. This has been causing her some minor inconveniences for a while now. She has taken to pausing before jumping up on the couch, as if the short distance she’s covered for so very long has grown and she’s no longer convinced she can do it. What once was a thoughtless, stationary, leap now needs a bit of a run up, and, possibly, the moving of a certain wheelchair from out of the way.

All of which was before last Friday.

On said day I went to wake Bonnie up so we could go for our daily(ish) walk to find her limping quite badly. It was the same leg, the right hind-leg, and she was having trouble putting any weight through it. Every step looked painful. There were no yelps or growls, but the way she was holding the leg, the way she was walking, said something hurt.

But then, as the day progressed, the leg seemed to get better. Moving seemed to alleviate the problem somewhat, whereas periods of inactivity (and remember this is a Labrador-cross we’re talking about) seemed to result in the same sore limp.

Walkies!
So, we gave it the weekend, to see if it were something that might clear up, something she’d stood on in one of our walks, or a pulled muscle or something, but, the problem persisting, contacted PDSA on Monday to arrange an appointment with a vet. This isn’t for another week, but on the phone consultation we were told that, in all likelihood, it was probably a touch of arthritis which medication should be able to help (it will be management rather than cure). Hopefully this will see Bonnie back to her boundy self, and (more selfishly, and weather permitting) bring a return to our daily walks.

Which brings me nicely to my New Year non-resolution accountability. I can reveal that the exercise regime has set off apace, with a two day on, one day rest schedule. The diet too is improving, and I even risked cooking cabbage last night (one whole head, shared between two, plus turkey bacon, spices, chicken stock, and just about anything else I could think of to stop it tasting like cabbage.) You can thank Morrison’s Too Good To Go for that. There’s been one small drink of alcohol, no take-outs, no chocolate, and no crisps. In short, I’ve been a good boy.

And Bonnie’s a good girl.


Until next time…


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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think


New Tales Of Old


Death Ship


Pestilence: Drabbles 1


Reaperman: Drabbles 3


The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu


Eldritch Investigations