The Year of the Dogs

Last summer, I went to a Chinese restaurant called P.F. Chang’s I learned that this year, is the year of the pig, according to the Chinese Zodiac. But in my family, 2019 might as well be the year of the dogs.  It started in January when we made the difficult choice to put my first dog, Duke, down. His health had been declining, and he was dying. A few months later, Mom won the argument to get another dog, citing the health benefits for the entire family.

I indeed wanted to wait a little bit longer than she did, but I can recognize when I’m going to lose a fight.  So, I have embraced the excitement and challenge of having a new, young dog. The younger dog is named Leon, a German Shepherd, and Carolina Dog mix.  You might not know this, but the Carolina Dog is descended from the Dingo, so he had a little bit of extra wildness. It’s fascinating how different dogs have different personalities. Both Duke and Leon were rescued., but Duke had interesting quirks. He was extremely protective of me.

But on the other hand, he wouldn’t let me pet him unless I was completely alone with him.  It has been hard to lose a member of the family that has been a major part of life for the last 13 years. In preparation for losing Duke, I read several books on mourning the loss of pets. Unsurprisingly, the books said the loss of a pet is very difficult. In fact, in some ways, it is more difficult than losing people since we share so much of our lives with our pets. 

I think about Duke every day, especially when Leon is exhibiting the same behavior that Duke did when he was running all over the house, picking up everything within reach, and chewing.

Sometimes, the universe seems to bring the right person into your life at the right time. It turned out that Dave has a very close friend he calls his godbrother, who trains champion Rottweilers. So, one day, when Leon was wild, Dave took a picture of him on his phone and asked if his friend Lee could train him.  He said yes, and we met the next week. It’s been amazing to work with him for the last couple of months. Leon had only had training once, and he just had to be reminded about his behavior. We started with small things, like “sit” and “stay.”  Then we did some training about how to track things because that’s a good way to get a dog tired. It turned out Leon is a natural at tracking. He probably could be a police dog if we let him.  Recently I did something I’ve never done before. I started to walk the dog in my wheelchair, with Lee monitoring.  It might sound like a small thing, but there’s a lot of moving parts to take a successful walk with a wheelchair. First of all, he has to be on my left side, because controls are on my right side. Then I have to turn, and the dog must turn with me, so I don’t run him over. We are still working on that. I haven’t run him over; it just confuses him a bit.

Last week I got a little bit dizzy from turning around so much. With all the training I’ve been doing, Leon listens pretty well to me, which is a good sign because he’s going to be a big dog by the time he fills out. He is already significantly taller than Duke, but he hasn’t put weight on. I don’t know if it’s because I have dogs on the brain, but I see news stories about dogs and people with disabilities. There was one about a deaf man who adopted a deaf dog and taught him sign language. And there was one about a kid with disabilities who uses a type of cannon to throw a ball to his service dog. I need to get one of them.  And most recently, I’ve seen where some doctors are using well-trained dogs to demonstrate basic medical procedures to young people. Doctors don’t perform the procedures on the dogs, but for example, the dogs can demonstrate how to lay on the exam table and get ready for a test.

As our journey came to a close with Duke, it’s just beginning with Leon. It’s been a great distraction from the difficult advocacy I continue to do, in a difficult moment between two deeply divided political parties. Leon helps to keep me centered so I can try and bring people closer together, to make good policy for people with disabilities.