Tag Archives: Divot

Merry Christmas 2016

Posted on by
3

Where have the days flown?
It’s already Christmastime.
Sit to write my seasonal message.
This Christmas it MUST rhyme.

pexels-photo-113803

 

 

 

 

 

Cowboy Poetry’s my new passion.
But, you ask, what does THAT mean?
It’s horses and cows and country life
And even ranchers’ washing machines!

Folks gather to hear the music
And cowboy campfire poetry.
Through song and country rhymes,
We keep alive, our western history.

Shelley at Kamloops

Shelley at Kamloops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In March I was in Kamloops
At their Rising Star poetry contest.
I placed and I’m invited back
As a professional performer and guest!

I attended poetry gatherings
Last year, in Canada and the USA,
With my retired sister/friend, Loree,
In our fifth-wheel, down the highways.

I learned to haul that fifth wheel
With a three-quarter-ton pickup truck.
But the one thing that I’m most proud of
Is I learned how to back it up!

Sacred Reading Space

Sacred Reading Space

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I moved eleven trucks of soil and rock
Into Harmoni’s beautiful backyard.
Built a sacred space for reading.
Don’t need a gym for muscles hard!

I came close to committing suicide:
Accidentally slashed my own wrist.
Only had to drive to three walk-in clinics
To find a doctor who would stitch!

In June I became a Funeral Celebrant
To tell the stories of the dead,
Who have their own ideas about
The funeral service and what is said.

I’ll have read my thousandth book,
Since 2007, to the last day of this year.
It’s been the adventure of a lifetime.
To my education, I’ve added years.

I think I’ll go back to only two books a week.
It is time I finished writing a few.
If you’ve read any good books lately, though,
I’d still love to hear from you.

Dove's 16th Birthday

Divot’s 16th Birthday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Divot, the golden Wonder dog
Is on Christmas seventeen!
The vet says she’s sure Divot’s
The oldest Golden Retriever she’s seen!

Divot still goes for daily walks,
Not more these days, than ’round the block.
Still likes to sniff out luscious smells
But sometimes her hind legs simply balk.

All my girls are doing fine.
In January, daughter, Harmoni
Begins a course online
For a degree in psychology.

Jasmine and Rhythm

Jasmine and Rhythm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandtoy, Rhythm continues dancing:
Performed in the Moscow ballet
Calgary Nutcracker performance.
Hopes to be choreographer one day.

Grandtoy, Jasmine took up the ukulele.
In only two weeks she was playing some tunes!
She seems to excel at whatever she tries.
Who knows: maybe first woman on the moon?

Daughter, Rachel has a new book soon,
Added yoga instructor to her CV.
Seems that girl is always on the run.
Some people say she’s a bit like me!

As usual, my plans for 2017
Are ambitious, to say the least.
I’ve had enough of famine;
I’m ready for a feast!

Between poetry and publishing,
Presenting and pontificating,
I plan to perform more, professionally,
Plow into next year’s posterior, celebrating!

Everyday, we all have plenty to eat,
More clothes than we can ever wear.
We have no wars plaguing our streets.
In our world, these privileges are rare.

Let’s be thankful for the many blessings
We all enjoy each and everyday.
My hope for you in the New Year
Is that Gratitude’s here to stay.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas,
Creating friends and family memories.
May your tears, next year, be tears of joy,
And your days overflow with “tee-hee-hees”!

pexels-photo-251834

 

Old Dog Vestibular Disease

Posted on by
3
Divot 14 Years

Divot 14 Years

Old Dog Vestibular Disease. Ever heard of it? Me neither.

I suppose it’s because few dogs get really old. Our vet said at our last check-up that she rarely sees Golden Retrievers older than ten or twelve years old.

Divot is 14.

A few days ago she suddenly turned into a mad cow. You’ve seen the images of those poor creatures stumbling and bobbing their heads. That’s what Divot looked like and it was heart-wrenching.

She had a good walk in the morning. In the afternoon Hubby pulled a slice of roast beef from the fridge. Her usual reaction would be to dash over and hope that a crumb would drop or Hubby would save a scrap for her. (He always does!)

She didn’t budge.

We left her, thinking it a temporary numbness, perhaps like when you lie on one side and your arm “falls asleep”.

Suppertime rolled around and she refused to get up. We helped her. She attempted to walk the five feet to her food dish.

It was then that she looked like the mad cow. The way she gingerly picked at her food like her mouth was frozen convinced me she had had a stroke.

The looming ugly decision tormented me. I knew the day would come. But I’m not ready to let go.

Next morning, at book club, the host made the mistake of asking me how I am and I couldn’t keep it together. Good thing: every member of my “tribe” hugged me and commiserated and told me of her own experiences losing her best “furiends”. That made it better.

One told me not to grieve yet, but to love Divot until the end. Then grieve. She said it could be my gift to Divot. I liked that.

So I cheered up and resolved to investigate Divot’s sudden ailment. That’s when I learned about Old Dog or Geriatric Vestibular Disease.

Vestibular refers to a nerve that connects the ear and the brain. It can be inflamed but there is no definitive cause for the condition.

The symptoms seem stroke-like. They include, a cocked head, instability in walking, tending to veer to one side, affecting appetite (hard to eat when you’re dizzy!)

I learned that pet owners often hastily euthanize, believing the dog has had a stroke, when the dog can recover from Old Dog Vestibular Disease.

Divot didn’t seem to have the severe effects of stroke, which are the same as Vestibular Disease, but can also include blindness and permanent paralysis. Apparently strokes are rare in dogs.

After a few days, we visited the vet. Amazingly, Divot was considerably better that morning. She still wobbled but she seemed more stable. By the time we got to the clinic she was walking only slightly off-kilter. The vet marveled. She said three days was very fast to show such recovery; it can take weeks.

The vet said we can expect Divot to recover except for having a cocked head, a perpetually inquisitive stance, which does add to her charm.

The vet also suggested that many people do MRI but in her opinion it wouldn’t benefit Divot. We appreciated that.

Divot in 2007

Divot in 2007

She prescribed good care.

“Including walks?”

Divot LOVES her walks more than anything. I know that not walking would surely hasten the aging process. I was relieved when the vet agreed short walks are fine.

We took a stroll that afternoon. Divot wobbled only a few times in three blocks. She had a good snow bath (rolling with glee on a patch of snow) and even trotted a couple times.

It seems she is recovering. We will have to face the ugly decision one day, but not today.

I am more determined to cherish each moment and fully drink in the splendor of our walks together so she will never really be gone.

 

Sources: Google: “Dog stroke” or “Vestibular Disease”

Divot the Dog Celebrates her 14th Birthday in a Big Way!

Posted on by
2
photo belongs to www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com

photo belongs to www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com

Health Lessons from an Old Dog

Last week our Golden Retriever, Divot, turned 14 and she had a wild and crazy birthday.

It began with a lunchtime party with the Grandtoys, who simply love to have dog parties. I barbecued chicken legs. The wind blew the aluminum foil cover off the pan and Divot gobbled down a chunk of the chicken-skin-flavoured foil before I could stop her.

Peanut butter on rice cakes is her usual birthday fare but this year it was leftover blueberry pancakes with peanut butter. And my Grandtoy had put so much peanut butter on the pancake it stuck to the roof of Divot’s mouth. So funny as she struggled to suck it off! See video of Divot’s party. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSPwqV3D8V8&feature=youtu.be

Finally, Divot and my husband went to see an old friend, Betty, who fed Divot most of a bag of popcorn. Later while hubby was sitting at the table with Betty he heard a slurping sound from the living room. There he found Divot’s nose in a box of chocolates. He dug some out of her mouth and deduced she may have swallowed one or two. Not the end of the world.

As you can see Divot still behaves like a puppy. She has slowed down in some ways: our walks are often strolls. She can no longer jump into the truck; in fact, she can’t even put her paws up to boost herself. She sleeps most of the day.

But the tiniest sign that we’re ready to walk: I brush my teeth, get my phone, ensure I have my Epi-Pen, put on my shoes, any one of those signs gets her excited about our walk. She bounds off the back porch like a puppy. Divot loves people and is happy to greet others as we walk around our neighbourhood, canines less enthusiastically than humans. Her pace going is faster than coming home, something she’s always done, anything to prolong the walk.

We are privileged to have Divot in our lives for 14 healthy years.  Divot is our living experiment. When she was ten weeks old we decided to feed her a diet that was more in keeping with her nature. As a descendent of wolves, we knew she would thrive on a wolf-like diet.

photo belongs to www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com

Divot’s Supper – photo belongs to
www.ShelleyGoldbeck.com

Since then she has eaten almost all raw food. Her typical meal consists of ½ cup raw meat, ½ cup cooked brown rice, ½ cup raw veggies like carrot or cucumber. She gets garlic and parsley; she gets fish, olive and coconut oils and some other supplements. An integral part of her diet is the raw beef soup bones she has two or three times each week. They keep her mouth healthy and her teeth cleaned. She has all her teeth and they’re not black, as is expected by this age.

Despite losing most of her hearing and some of her sight, Divot has had few health issues. Apart from some antibiotics for ear infections from swimming in the Bow River, she has taken no medications. At two years old we removed a large wart from her paw. No diabetes, epilepsy or other modern dog ailments. She is not obese and she has never stunk, like most dogs do.

Divot has lived two years longer, so far, than the long range for her breed. We think it’s her diet and lifestyle. If it works for a dog, it should work for humans.

So here is what I recommend based on Divot’s fine example. Eat whole, real food, suitable to your species as much as possible. Not too much. Drink plenty of water. Exercise everyday. Sleep lots. Play whenever you can. Surround yourself with people you love and choose to be happy.

If Divot were a human she’d be pushing 100. And I’ve just shared the secrets to her longevity!

Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine

Posted on by
Reply

Divot eyes her traditional “rice cake with peanut butter” birthday cake Photo owned by www.shelleygoldbeck.com

The 1970’s Tom T Hall song Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine runs through my head frequently lately.

I expect that’s because our Golden Retriever, Divot turned 13 yesterday, an amazing feat for her breed.

She is very healthy and active but her age has most recently declared itself.

The vet has warned us her cataracts continue to cloud her vision. She doesnt always see her hand signals for Sit Speak Down Side.

Her formerly fine-tuned hair-trigger hearing has faded gradually these past six months, resulting in more instances where she’s startled when we walk into a room.

A few months ago, she started having what looked like petit mals (mini epileptic seizures). She shuddered for no apparent reason, for less than a second. She was having six or more each day. After two weeks of adding coconut oil to her food the seizures are almost gone.

But it’s a reminder that she’s not immortal.

She has started having difficulty getting up from lying down on our slippery laminated floors so we bought six cheap ugly mats to put in all her places on the floor. It seems to help. The vet recommended glucosamine. Not sure if it helps but it can’t hurt.

Where she used to bound into and out of vehicles she’s now unsure about exiting and often waits for a boost into the truck.

Our walks deteriorate to mere strolls. My attempts to hurry her are often met with stubborn resistance that makes me smile rather than annoys me. I respect her right to be a bit crotchety. She has paid her dues. She deserves to have her own way here and there. Some days she moves along at a nice clip.

Divot’s naps grow longer. She seems to sleep 23 hours a day. She has more trouble sleeping through the night, not atypical, I think considering her human-equivalent age of 91 years.

Bladders seem to be among the first organs to lose functionality. Getting up in the night to let her out used to bug me but now I often have to get up myself so I can’t really grouse about her condition, can I?

Sometimes she doesn’t need to go. She just wants to be outside taking in the wonder of the early early morning with its cool air and soft light. I don’t blame her. It is peaceful.

In the song, Tom says, “Old dogs care about you even when you make mistakes/God bless little children while they’re still too young to hate.”

Great wisdom in both lines.

There is nothing so pure as a dog’s knack to love unconditionally.

When I come home Divot acts as though I am the most important person in the world. She can’t get close enough, smile widely enough or “sing” loudly enough.

It’s not just me. She treats every guest in our home with exuberant attention, leaving no doubt she’s thrilled to see them, even if they come everyday.

Divot is a sure cure for feeling blue. It’s impossible not to laugh at her antics and marvel at her undying devotion to her pack.

Divot is content to just be. She doesn’t need to do or have anything. She quite happily lies for hours at my feet or just outside my office door.

If I go outside to putter in the garden, she’s out there with me. If I sit inside to read, she sleeps on the floor or on her leather loveseat.

I find myself cherishing my time with Divot. She has no pain and still fools people with bursts of puppy-energy but in my heart I know she can’t live forever.

I am tempted to begin grieving, at least preparing for the day I don’t have my hiking partner poking through the long grass and wildflowers with me at the bark park.

But then I remind myself to enjoy the present. She could live another year or two. As long as she has no pain.

I hope she dies in her sleep in her favorite dugout near the house foundation like my childhood family dog, Lassie did one warm summer day.

Will you get another dog? I wave off the well-meaning question. I am not going to borrow worry.

I am going to be like an old dog and just be. And make everybody believe they are the most important person in the world.

Happy Birthday, Divot!

Thanks for teaching me the secret to your perpetual smile.

See more about Divot: http://divotthedog.wordpress.com/

August 22: I dedicate this post to my mom’s dog Muffin, who gave Mom 14 years and seven months of joy. She passed on this week.

read related article here: One dog owner’s feelings about her dog’s last days.