Lenore is on the mend, she seemed to spring back to life shortly before dawn and now is more like herself, looking for food, attention, her tail wagging like a helicopter rotor. It seems to have been a painful muscle pull or tear we are giving her anti-inflammatories, helping her to rest. She’s going to be fine. She was in a lot of pain, it was not easy to see it.
Every morning, as the sun rises, Red and I enter the pasture, and I sent Red out to circle the sheep and, if necessary, move them to maintain order. His work is a daily call to life for me, just as Simon’s bray is. It challenges me to prepare for work, to be inspired, to know what it is I do and what it is I want to do.
Red and I share this commitment to purpose, to a meaningful life. Work is important to both of us, in very different ways. His is instinctive, the product of breeding and training and instinct, mine is different, a conscientious and conscious choice, a way of looking at the world.
When I see Red out in the pasture and take a photo of him working, then our two worlds seem fused, are the same thing, are connected in a powerful and timeless way. This is the ancient bond of the working animal and the working human being.
In the mornings, Maria always makes time to talk to the donkeys, in her own way and in their own way. She leans down near one of them, and then the others come gliding over and get close to her. I am sometimes in these conversations, but usually standing off with my camera. When I make time, I am welcome in this circle, I feel the emotions that pass back and forth between us and the animals we live with. The donkeys need attention and connection, but like many cats, they also need independence and their own spaces.
The donkeys will stand with us for five or ten minutes, and then drift away to make their rounds, forage for food, check out the world. Sometimes, I feel I can touch the space that exists between Maria and her donkeys, she cannot imagine life without them. Animals connect to us in the most mysterious but powerful of ways, they were wise and spiritual beings, they know us well. Learning how to talk to them and listen to them has been one of the most powerful driving forces of my life. A mystical experience that changes me almost every day.
The hard thing about dealing with animals in pain is that they can’t tell us what is wrong and we feel especially responsible for them. Lenore in pain definitely hits a sore spot for me, she is the sweetest creature that ever lived and she kept love alive for me when I thought I would leave the world without ever finding it.
I remember the cold winter night at the first Bedlam Farm, Lenore was two or three months old and slept in a crate every night, and she looked at me when I headed up to bed and I just opened the crate door and picked her up and carried her upstairs and put her on the foot of the bed, where she has slept every night since. She is the Love Dog, she filled a huge hole in my heart – I was alone by then and going to pieces.
Lenore made me smile, lifted me up every night. When people tell me animals should never be used to amuse or entertain people (a/k/a) lift them up, I know right away that they don’t know what they are talking about, or they are talking right out of their butts.
Lenore is still hurting, and quite a bit, if she is not better in the morning, we’ll take her back to the vet for X-rays, she will probably require some sedation and then, if it seems she has a disc issue, she will almost surely be put on steroids, that will surely be the vet’s recommendation. I’m talking to her wonderful breeder Gretchen Pinkel of Kee-Pin Labs tonight. Gretchen is the best and most conscientious breeder I have ever known and I will value her insight and advice heavily.
Lenore yelped in pain when I came in the house tonight, it is hard to hear it. I told her we would figure it out – with little or not drama – and help her. The pain of animals requires great patience, thought and calm in humans, it is a hard thing to see.
We took Lenore to the vet this morning, and she got a thorough check-up there. The diagnosis was either a muscle pull or a possible disc problem, not uncommon with Labs (but not common in Lenore’s line). She was in a lot of pain this morning, but it’s lessened a bit this afternoon.
My own instincts are that it is a muscle pull, she went for a long walk with Maria in the deep woods yesterday, and we’ll know quickly if that is the problem. If it is a muscle pull, it will be much better in the morning if it isn’t we’ll bring her back to the vet for an X-ray and perhaps some medication. We decided it to treat her for that first, and then go to the next step if necessary.
The odds are that she pulled a muscle in her neck, that’s my guess, but I’m not a vet and we all agreed we would know in the morning whether it might be something else. Lenore is resting comfortably, eating like a warthog and greeting every human, dog and living thing in sight. She is getting a lot of rest today and over the next few days.
She is a sweetie, we hate to see her in distress, but hopefully, this will resolve itself quickly. Either way, we can handle it.
