This year, it looks like I am forced to give up something I really love: Caring for dogs. The 7 years prior to this one, I had worked with dogs in some capacity. First I worked at a boarding kennel and daycare. It was working there, that a dog broke my hip in a freak accident. It took me about 4 months to get back to the kennel.
I left there in 2004 to work at a high end pet retail store, ostensibly as a dog walker. That ended up being a bit of a clash of personalities: I am still friends with my old boss, but we agreed we were not suited for working together. The pet store is now defunct, although she still offers a dog walking and training service.
I briefly ran my own pet care and dog walking service, Violet and Friends. But one day, while walking a pair of Wire Hair Fox Terriers, my knee suddenly wouldn't straighten. It was a 25 year-old knee injury that had had enough.
I had to have my knee entirely reconstructed. While I was still in rehab for the knee, my DH had a seizure at Fry's Electronics, so we suddenly had to move close enough to his job that he could ride his bike. Our new place was in a different county than I than I had my business license. And it took much, much longer to recover from the knee surgery than the hip surgery. So the business was dead. But finally, in November of 2006, I was ready to head back to work.
The next job was the most fun job I have ever had. I worked at a doggie daycare. It used to be a great place, lots of room indoors and out for play, lots of beds for dogs who wanted to snooze, innumerable toys. Just after I was hired, the daycare was purchased by a man who already had another doggie daycare in another location.
There, we were trained extensively in canine behavior, and how to read dogs, and their body language. I was promoted to a "senior playgroup leader," which meant I was qualified to run shifts. I was fascinated with dog behavior, and studied it on my own.
But slowly, my left foot, the foot on the leg with the bolted hip, and remade knee, began to ache and throb. I always worked half time. But I had to cut back from 5 days to 4. I saw an orthopedist, and he looked at my foot, and said, "You don't want the surgery you need to fix that." So we agreed to try conservative approaches first. But he was already warning me, they were not going to work. We had to go through the routine to convince the insurance company I needed surgery.
So I took 4 months off work while I wore a prosthesis in a walking boot, that was supposed to reshape the bone structure of my foot. Of course, it didn't work. The next step was to get a brace to fit into my shoes, and turn my foot to the right angle. Again, ridiculously ineffective. I went back to work, but now I could only work 3 days a week. I finally went back to the orthopedist again.
This time, I had to have my foot entirely reconstructed.
I had the surgery in January. I wasn't allowed to bear any wait on my foot until April. I got out of the walking boot in June.
My foot still doesn't feel normal. My Dr. warned me I probably would never work with dogs again. I still don't like to admit it to myself. But realistically, my leg is too damaged to balance on, and I need balance to be able to handle large dogs.
So this year, I had to let go of one of my favorite things: A room full of dogs.
Some of the dogs I miss:
Kaiser Sose
Chloe and Ballou
Lolli
Otis
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