"Doesn't that dog look funny?"
"Look at that dog's tongue!"
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| https://pixabay.com/en/dog-sitting-pet-yellow-orange-150923/ |
Anyone who knows me personally will be very aware of my love/slight obsession for dogs. This post is dedicated to my beautiful, gorgeous chocolate Labrador - Charlie. (Yes I am totally biased)
I will simply be explaining why she now looks like a funny (but adorable) cartoon dog!
I will simply be explaining why she now looks like a funny (but adorable) cartoon dog!
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| THIS IS CHARLIE. Photograph retrieved from - https://www.facebook.com/heathfieldboarding/photos/a.610997652351250.1073741828.610990219018660/1012584125525932/?type=3&theater |
Since the age of five I had begged my mum for a dog, but I still had to wait another 10
years before I was blessed with one. We visited the breeders in January 2010 to choose our pup from a litter of four. Aren't they just the most adorable creatures ever?!
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| The rest of the photos are my dads own. |
The puppies were marked with a blob of nail varnish on their back so they were easily distinguishable from one another (top, bottom, top and bottom, and middle).
We picked top (well my mum did) despite my objection because my favourite was bottom. This was unpopular on the basis that the name 'Bottom' probably would have stuck. Wouldn't it be hilarious to shout that across the park?
We weren't able to bring her home with us for another few weeks because she needed a bunch of injections...
... but when she did, she was clumsy and she definitely needed to grow into her huge paws.
The next couple of weeks we went through the generic stages that everyone goes through after getting a puppy:
- Potty training
- Teaching to heal when walking
- Lots of chewing
- etc..
For anyone who isn't aware, chocolate Labradors have a reputation - they are naughty and greedy (as are all labs). Have you ever seen a brown guide dog?
She chewed through my dad's blackberry, a pair of my mum's sunglasses, along with the corner of the kitchen cupboards.
She chewed through my dad's blackberry, a pair of my mum's sunglasses, along with the corner of the kitchen cupboards.
Have some more pictures of my cute little puppy:
Fast forward to summer 2015.
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| This photo was taken in Devon, the summer before I was due to leave home and move to Reading for university. |
Prior to our holiday in Devon (where the photo above was taken), my mum and I had been in our kitchen when I decided to give Charlie a Dentastix treat - completely harmless, so I thought. She has always made a mess when eating. She is always dropping bits of on the floor but then I noticed red on the treat. This turned out to be the obvious, blood. After an inspection of her mouth (do not underestimate the difficulty of trying to look into a dogs mouth whose priority is eating a treat) my mum found a deep red, gooey-looking growth next to her lower teeth on the gum line. So we took her to the vet, where they took a biopsy and removed the growth.
We then traveled to Devon for our summer holiday, awaiting the results of the biopsy. The biopsy was needed to determine if the growth was a benign or malignant tumour.
Benign = it isn't cancerous.
Malignant = it is cancerous.
Without telling you, I am sure you can guess which type of tumour Charlie had growing in her mouth. Unfortunately, we received the bad news in the evening, as we settled into our holiday cottage. I didn't sleep that night, and found myself cuddling Charlie and crying A LOT.
If you don't have or have never had a dog then you will never truly understand the bond you get with a dog. It's seriously hard to imagine life without her and the thought of it scared me so much.
Despite the awful news we made the most of the time, expecting it to be one of our last holidays with Charlie. When we returned home my parents went to the vets to discuss the outcome...
It was then that we realised the tumour had grown back, bigger than before. At this point my parents decided there was no alternative but to go ahead with an operation to remove half of her lower jaw. This might seem cruel but the other possibility of letting her tumour spread was not even an option. Although it seems extreme to remove half of her jaw, and significantly affect her quality of life, to leave any trace of the cancer would allow it to spread.
Five days later, she underwent the surgery.
Apart from the initial shock of seeing my dog with her tongue lolloping out of her mouth, she seemed unchanged. If I'm honest, the days after Charlie came home were a blur. I was so caught up in sorting out my things for uni that I was oblivious to her difficulty adapting.
I came home from university in mid October, for a family birthday. Then I noticed a significant change in Charlies face. The side where her jaw had gone was much more bony. This was because of muscles wastage, as the muscle was no longer being used.
In my opinion (and yes it is a very biased one) I think that she is still the most beautiful dog in the world.
There's no message to this post but please if you ever see a dog with a tongue hanging out longer than normal don't make a comment! It is easy to forgive children for laughing but repeating the story over and over is soooo tedious.
Anyway, thank you for reading - if you got this far.
Lots of love
Charlie's human
xxxx
We then traveled to Devon for our summer holiday, awaiting the results of the biopsy. The biopsy was needed to determine if the growth was a benign or malignant tumour.
Benign = it isn't cancerous.
Malignant = it is cancerous.
Without telling you, I am sure you can guess which type of tumour Charlie had growing in her mouth. Unfortunately, we received the bad news in the evening, as we settled into our holiday cottage. I didn't sleep that night, and found myself cuddling Charlie and crying A LOT.
If you don't have or have never had a dog then you will never truly understand the bond you get with a dog. It's seriously hard to imagine life without her and the thought of it scared me so much.
Despite the awful news we made the most of the time, expecting it to be one of our last holidays with Charlie. When we returned home my parents went to the vets to discuss the outcome...
It was then that we realised the tumour had grown back, bigger than before. At this point my parents decided there was no alternative but to go ahead with an operation to remove half of her lower jaw. This might seem cruel but the other possibility of letting her tumour spread was not even an option. Although it seems extreme to remove half of her jaw, and significantly affect her quality of life, to leave any trace of the cancer would allow it to spread.
Five days later, she underwent the surgery.
Apart from the initial shock of seeing my dog with her tongue lolloping out of her mouth, she seemed unchanged. If I'm honest, the days after Charlie came home were a blur. I was so caught up in sorting out my things for uni that I was oblivious to her difficulty adapting.
I came home from university in mid October, for a family birthday. Then I noticed a significant change in Charlies face. The side where her jaw had gone was much more bony. This was because of muscles wastage, as the muscle was no longer being used.
In my opinion (and yes it is a very biased one) I think that she is still the most beautiful dog in the world.
 |
| Photo from - https://www.facebook.com/heathfieldboarding/photos/a.610997652351250.1073741828.610990219018660/1012584172192594/?type=3&theater |
Anyway, thank you for reading - if you got this far.
Lots of love
Charlie's human
xxxx
Read more posts? http://georgi3porgi3.blogspot.co.uk/
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