Sore backs, Cola and the Dinzie Menagerie

Sore backs, Cola and the Dinzie Menagerie

Well my sore back came back to haunt me this week.  How I triggered it I
have no idea but it started to hurt last Sunday and just gradually got worse
as the week went by. I finally went to the doctor on Friday where she
prescribed some powerful medicine and gave me a referral to a chiropractor.
My back has started to come right mainly I think from just not being at work
and having to sit in a chair that obviously hasn’t done me any good and just
taking the pressure of it.

I left work early on Thursday just because I couldn’t take the pain anymore
and wanted to lie down but on the way home I knew that I probably wouldn’t
be back over to pick Cola up so I decided to do a quick drive by and see if
anyone was at the house and pick her up. Cola is my beagle dog that dickhead
(dh) took from me along with my daughter when we separated 6 years ago.
She’s an old girl now being 11 years old and we are probably just taking on
the years of trouble but dh moved to a house that he isn’t allowed a dog
anymore and SAE who does have a soft spot for her somewhere in her body,
asked me if I would take her (probably prompted by dh seeing how it suited
him now for me to have her). Anyway I love my Cola and I have really missed
her being around, I just love her ears as they are just so silky and
wonderful to touch so with all those fond memories of her flashing through
my head and I guess probably across my face DD told me to take her. He is
such a wonderful man he really could have said no and he really should have
but he could see how much I wanted her but didn’t want to put that burdon
onto him. (This is the moment you should be reaching for the tissue box to
wipe away those tears because of the emotional moment).

I made two fatal mistakes on Thursday though the first was to ring dh on the
way to the house to see if someone was going to be home to give me Cola, and
the second was when I got to the house I didn’t grab her as soon as the door
opened as she run away down the street and she was not coming back in a
hurry. So there I am walking around a stranger house trying to get Cola with
my back in pain and wishing I hadn’t done this and knowing that dh was going
to turn up any moment to give me Cola’s “things”. DH turns up and I say she
ran away and he says “yeah she is a run away” oh really you pathetic dh I
already know that, like she was MY dog for 5 years before you TOOK her!!!!!
(read at this point pent up frustration) eventually she came back I bundled
her up in the car and dh give me her lead. THAT was her “things” or was it
just an excuse for him to see me and try to start a conversation. He is
truly pathetic!!

So Cola and I arrive home and Pepsi gets to meet her for the first time,
well, Pepsi crys when we walk her and she goes past other dogs! so there she
is bouncing all around Cola with that “who’s this who’s this” happy attitude
and Cola being the old lady she is just walks around the garden sniffing
everything with the attitude of “look here you silly teenager I’ve had dogs
around me for most of my life do you think you impress me!”. Pepsi wants to
play big time and finally after a few hours she plucks up the courage to
nudge Cola with her nose and make growling noises to start the play action,
and Cola she just took exception to it and growled and showed teeth and
Pepsi backed right off. So in the chain of command so far Cola is in charge
of Pepsi.

Time for George to enter the scene. So in strolls George, up goes the tail,
puff goes the fur, up on tip toes and spitting fire!!! Cola takes one look
at George and immediately understands that the chain of commands actually
starts with George!!!

Enter Mickey, who has never been around a dog except for dopey Pepsi, I had
by this time shut the exit mode of the cat door so that the animals could
begin to bond. Mickey who basically is at the end of the command chain
really knows she is when Cola decides that this is something she could play
with and starts to bound towards her, where Mickey promptly runs straight
into the cat door and lies stunned on the floor (well not stunned but she
was not happy!!).

So the full chain of command is starting to form, George, Cola, Pepsi and
Mickey. Of course this is before DD walks into the house and then it will be
DD in the lead! Where do I fit in well not in command chain but more into
the clean up crew!!

So come Thursday night when we had all been playing happy families except
for DD who was in Auckland but flying at 10pm when I would pick him up,
things had pretty much gone smoothly. Now Cola is a dog who has been used to
sleeping on furniture, couches, beds you name it she lies on it! but there
would be none of that in this household, so there was an old basket which is
brand new in actual fact as we had brought if for Pepsi when we got her but
she never used it, never liked it until I brought it upstairs for Cola! It
pretty much became obvious at that point that Pepsi is jealous of Cola.
Everytime I told Cola to get in the basket Pepsi would jump in and ruffle it
about, pull at the covers on it and jump out!!! She still doesn’t like the
fact that Cola has the basket but she will get used to it.

So DD enters the scene too late in the day to make an impression on Cola,
then off to work at 6.30am and back at 6pm the next day. Oh well I thought
come Sat/Sun impressions will be made then and the rule of command will be
sorted, but oh no as our luck would have it the man I thought could also
pamper me this weekend because of my back is ill himself, going both ends
and cramping in the stomach!! So I end up nursing him instead!!!  My poor DD
he has suffered badly this weekend and I don’t begrudge looking after him at
all, its so awful when he’s not well, for such a big guy he is such a baby
when sick. But I love him still 🙂

Pepsi sleeps in the garage and that was where Cola was meant to be going as
well, only not according to her she wasn’t. Down they both went on Thursday
night and then the barking started and the scratching at the door and the
crying. after an hour I couldn’t take it anymore and I brought her up stairs
put her in the basket in the hallway and left poor Pepsi downstairs and
that’s been the sleeping arrangement for the last 3 nights, tonight we’ll
try to graduate her basket downstairs and closer to the garage door and then
slowly get her  back in the garage. I just hope it works we cant have her
upstairs and Pepsi in the garage downstairs.

Took Cola to the vet yesterday, to get a complete check up, there’s a story
all in itself but there is something wrong with her as she drinks a lot of
water and has a bit of trouble controlling her bladder inside the house. So
now I have to follow her around on Monday morning to get a sample to take to
the vet to get it tested to see what’s wrong. That should read for a
fascinating tale one day soon!

 I could carry on but this has turned into a epic already, needless to say
that there are a few more Cola/Pepsi stories to tell and stories on what an
old dog behaves like. Put it this way DD snores pretty loudly

but Cola now
takes the top slot on that! And between you and me she looks so much cuter
than DD when she is asleep as well how could you not love that snoring,
snuffling, farting old dog!!

Well if you go all this way down I am most impressed 🙂

Till next time diary