High maintenance dogs - South Bay Pets

High maintenance dogs

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By Donna Littlejohn on March 15, 2009 9:36 AM | | Comments (0) |
This is telling. 

I've long been a believer in having 2 dogs at a time for all kinds of reasons. But what's odd about this is that I've noticed one out of the two invariably is high-maintenance while the other one is often virtutally healthy & problem free -- in general. 

This pattern especially held true with my past 2 dogs, Ellie -- a pound dog, shaggy mixed breed, who never had a sick day in her life until 3 weeks before she died at the age of (almost) 14. 

By contrast, Pilgrim, an Australian shepherd, had numerous health and medical crises (and one major surgery), finally culminating with the surprise onset of diabetes. He died in September 2007 at the fairly young age of 8 years from complications of that disease, although we controlled it successfully with daily insulin shots for 18 months.

Anyway, as I was organizing some of my home files this weekend, including those that hold all the records and histories for Cowboy & Tess, I realized the pattern may be repeating itself with my current dogs.

Cowboy's folder (the blue one in the photos below) is neat & thin, with little more than his licensing, vaccination, microchip and adoption records. 

But Tess's file (the red one) is already bulging at the seams after just 1 year: Along with the usual documents, she's already accumulated a good number of vet receipts and associated paperwork, thanks to an early bout with acute pancreatitis which required several days of hospitalization, followed some months later by the infamous broken toe incident.

Either way, you love them all, of course. But low maintenance dogs are good when you get them. 

dog files front 1.jpg
















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So what's been your highest maintenance pet? 

Mine definitely was Pilgrim who, on top of all the high-cost medical challenges, also ruined 2 sofas, gnawed up several of my window sills and broke through two glass window panes in the front room. The mail carrier called him "psycho dog."  A lovable (and very expensive) brat. 


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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Donna Littlejohn published on March 15, 2009 9:36 AM.

Get your dog licensed was the previous entry in this blog.

Let them eat cake? No, but they did anyway is the next entry in this blog.

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About the Bloggers

Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.

E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.

Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.

E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.

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