By Porter –
Now, no dog ever wants to have to go to the vet at all, and we SURE don’t want to go to an emergency vet! But, things do happen and when they do, it’s great to know they exist. So far, Aspen and I have been healthy and we just go to the vet for our dreaded shots each year. She takes it all in stride but I hate it, the shots are bad enought but THEN they stick this thing up my bottom! I think it’s completely uncalled for and unnecessary, but mom and dad seem to think they need to know if I am running a temperature. Whatever.
Our vet is Dr. Milner. He is very nice, even if he does take my temperature. But, one day mom and dad took me to tour another hospital, that they called Dove Lewis, and it is one I hope to never have to go to. It is a pretty fancy building and downtown, quite a ways from our house. I was a bit nervous when we arrived because I wasn’t sure if they were bringing me there or what. I mean, hey, I was feeling good, I didn’t need to go to the vet! It turns out I was just invited along for a tour. Mom and dad’s previous furbaby Maddy had to go here at the end, and, after mom wrote a story about her passing, Abby, the really nice lady that worked there, asked if we could come take a tour and have lunch with her.
We arrived at Dove Lewis and waited for a bit in the pristine waiting room. There were no other dogs there, but a couple of sad looking humans. I guess, if they were there, it meant their pets were having problems and that made me sad for them. The tour was interesting, but as we wandered the sterile hallways, I was pretty intimidated by all of the scary looking instruments in the rooms. There were some huge machines that they called x-ray machines and I sure hope I never have to go near one of those!
Abby told us all sorts of stuff about the hospital. It’s been around for a really long time, since 1973, which is, like 240 dog years! They are open 24 hours a day which is pretty amazing to me. I like to nap. A lot. And I can’t imagine how people stay up for 24 hours without sleeping! We got to hear all about how many animals are helped at the hospital every year. Dove Lewis treats all sorts of animals too! Not just other doggies. Cats, bunnies, even birds get treated there sometimes. One thing that seemed very, very strange, was that grapes are bad for dogs. Hmmm, who would have thought. Mom feeds us other fruit, like watermelon and bananas, so thank goodness we learned that grapes were bad. I certainly don’t want to end up there unless I have to!
After lunch we went to a really cool restaurant for lunch with Abby. It was called Lucky Lab. I think any restaurant with a dog name must be fantastic, but my very favorite part was that they had tables outside so I got to hang out with mom, dad and Abby while they ate lunch. There were even a couple of other dogs there with their families so I got to say hello. Overall, it was a nice day. For some reason, mom and dad were pretty sad during the tour. I think they might have been missing Maddy because they said her name a lot. I don’t like to see them sad so I made sure to lean in for hugs a lot and over lunch they seemed to feel a little better. I really, really hope neither Aspen or I ever have to go back again, but it did seem to make mom and dad happy that they were there and able to help us if we need it.
