Trouble in Toby Land, The Beagle Chronicles

Last friday afternoon I noticed that Toby was staying in his dog house when he would have normally been totally underfoot. I counted my blessings and decided to cover up the latest hole he had dug in a flower bed next to the carport. Having heard that you could stop a dog from digging if you put some of their poop in the hole and then covered it up, I went looking.

After I only found one specimen, I became suspicious and called Toby. He wouldn’t come and when I got him out of his house he was walking funny and shaking all over. I knew he was sick and decided he might be constipated. The vet was closed so I warmed him some milk and held him for about an hour while he trembled. I felt like an awful dog owner because I had not noticed earlier.

Saturday morning we took off to the vet. I told the “nurse” what I suspected and she examined him briefly, took his temperature and then drew some blood to test for heartworms.

“Hold his head,” she said as she shoved an eight inch piece of plastic up his behind.

“What in the world did you just do?” I asked.

“Stool sample,” she replied as she inspected it much closer than I would have. “I can tell you one thing, he is not constipated.”

Then the vet came in and I went through it all again. He decided that Toby had just hurt his back. He prescribed a couple of medicines that for a dog cost a small fortune and that a person has in his medicine cabinet. Then he said he would check him for constipation if I wanted him to. I did not realize this was going to cost extra but I should have.

“Hold his head,” he said donning a rubber glove. Afterwards he told me Toby was not constipated.

I took Toby, his two medications and some heart worm medicine out to the car. I then retuned to the front desk where two ladies were working.

“How much do I owe you?” I asked.

“Hold his head,” One of them said to the other.

So after seven days of medications, Toby seems fine. Really he seemed fine after about two days except if I said the words “hold” or “head” he tried to bite me.

The vet said that Toby may have hurt his back running, digging or jumping. Today was a nice sunny day here and I went down to my shop to get the mower. I think I figured out what he jumped off of.

1. If it is mine, I will chew it.

2. If it is yours, I will chew it.

3. If I can get my mouth on it, I will chew it.

I called the Dog Whisperer and asked him to come and help me with Toby's troubles. He cancelled his show and moved back to Mexico.