Yesterday Mississippi was barking and barking like crazy all day long. No matter what i did to distract her, she just kept barking. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and headed to the basement with my laptop in one hand. I tried to close the baby gate at the top of the basement stairs before Mississippi could get through. Somewhere between the gate being closed and me turning to head down the stairs, I fell. POP! went my ankle. I thought for sure it was broken. I couldn’t move. The pain was extreme and I was hyperventilating. Very similar sensations to the ones I felt when I broke my foot 5 years ago. I was lucky enough to have brought my backpack with me. I found my cellphone and called Tom. “You need to come home, I think I broke my ankle.” He got a taxi and was home in about 20 minutes. Meanwhile I turned my laptop back on and canceled our dinner plans. I felt remarkably calm and collected for being in pain. I scootched my butt to the car through the backyard and waited for Tom. I remembered to tell Tom to turn off the oven. We drove to Kaiser and within a couple hours I was talking to nurses. morphine was administered, and x-rays were taken. I feel very lucky to announce no bones were broken. I have a Darth Vader brace and crutches and depending on how bad the tissue damage is, I’m looking at between two and eight weeks of recovery time. We’ll probably know more in about a week. Today the pain has faded and I can even half hobble on one crutch, so I’m hopeful this is going to be a fast recovery. I feel optimistic it will be.
What this all means is that dog dealings are changing. I can’t take Mississippi for walks right now. I can’t even supervise her in the back yard. She’s going to have to show us some patience. I’m probably going to have to give up on the irises in the backyard. They are too delicious for her to resist and I can’t keep her away from them right now. I have to let up on training. I have to let some of the chips fall where they may. I see things in a different light today when it comes to her. She’s a good dog, we’ll be ok.
The day started off with the same crazy barking that we had yesterday. It got worse and worse as the day progressed. She would just sit in her crate with the door open, barking and barking at nothing. I finally decided I needed a new tactic. I brought her bed into my office where I am working from an armchair and my foot propped up on my ottoman. She was very restless for a while with lots of barking, scratching and whining. I just kept encouraging her to relax. She is now quietly relaxing on her bed. I didn’t know she was capable of sitting with me while I work. It wasn’t working for us before.
Last night Tom did something similar. He got her to sit by him and treated her for staying put. I realized after he told me this, that we haven’t really been “training” her to stay calm. Maybe this is what we’ve been missing. Maybe she doesn’t like to bark, but she thinks it’s her job. Maybe just like learning to sit, shake, wave, roll over, etc on command, it’s time we teach her “patience” on command. I knew this had to happen somehow but I really couldn’t figure out how. Suddenly it seems easy. She’s reluctant to do it, but in my current physical state, I have no other options but to patiently keep at her until she calms down. It’s a sort of Eureka moment. I make it sound so easy, it’s not, just maybe this is a positive direction.
She’s been very sweet to me mostly today. She was afraid of the brace and crutches at first but I think she’s figured out I’m hurt. She’s been licking my toes and giving me her kongs. I think she’s trying to show restraint and gentleness. I hope that’s what this is because it’s a beautiful thing.
The apple in this photo marks 118 for the year. I’m just 2 apples behind schedule for eating 365 apples in 2009.
Oops, she’s up from her nap and back at the door barking, scratching and whining. I’ll let her play in the back yard for a while then try again with the sitting while I work. Wish me luck.
Update: Missi wouldn’t leave the backyard and was rapidly digging large holes. I felt helpless to stop her. Then I remembered Andi’s can tip. I grabbed our last can of wet food and lured her back in long enough to close the baby gate to the yard/basement. Looks like Tom has some ditches to fill up tonight.