Quigley on the Mend

Well, Quigley is still alive and doing well. We think it was the tangelo leaves which were lying around on the ground from pruning and which he apparently ate too many of. He's not vomited since this morning and then it was only a half-inch piece of the above mentioned tangelo leaves.

I've been giving him a couple of tablespoons of rice every couple of hours, which, as the day wore on was not enough. By evening he was frantic to eat. Barking, searching for food, jumping up, biting, generally going bananas. So I added shredded chicken breast and some yogurt to the rice and gave him a bit more. Tomorrow we combine it with regular food.

For a dog that requires multiple chews and treats to correct his continuing bad behavior, it is not good to have all those off limits. And since we didn't want him in the back yard unattended... it's been a tough day.

But he sure seems to have recovered his activity level. No more lethargy for Quigley! Stu wondered tonight if people ever went to the vet and asked if they could make the dog just sick enough to be nice instead of a terror. I said they probably give them tranquilizers, which I think they really do in some cases.

Quigley's new skills as of today: 1)barking to communicate and get his way and 2)jumping up on the kitchen counter. SIGHHHH.... and we hadn't even gotten the biting and jumping up under control! But my son reminded me tonight that Bear also bit and barked a lot and jumped on the counter. I'd just forgotten. It's been a long time.

Despite all that, I got a tiny bit of work done on Black Box. But I didn't do my fifteen minutes of email and I still have Bible Class to do.

And that test last night? I think I might have gotten a C. I went to bed, put earplugs in and left it all to God and my husband, which was a pretty big thing for me. And I slept about 75% of the night. But in between I struggled with a knotted stomach brought on by wrong thinking -- speculating on the future, focusing on the problem and what to do about it, among other things. Still it was an opportunity to keep rebounding and pulling my thoughts off all that and back onto the Lord. Who He is, what He can do, the fact that nothing which happens is out of His control, the fact that He loves me more than I can know, that His ways are not our ways but He will work all things together for good to those who love Him. He can even make Crazy Quigley beautiful. In His time.

Oh. Did I mention that His time is usually very different from our time? I read something about dog training today, emphasizing the need for patience and not to get too frustrated when the dog seems not to get it or to relapse or whatever, and you just have to keep giving the same commands or corrections over and over and over. It takes a long time and with some dogs it's especially hard. Quig is one. (And Bear was, too -- as attested to by the little trophy on my desk from dog training class: we got Most Improved Team, by unanimous vote! He was a mess when we started. Everyone figured we'd quit. But we didn't, and by the end he actually had learned some things.)

I guess this is an opportunity, too, to think about how it is for God with us (except He sees the end at the same time as the present and past) -- patience. Just keep on plugging and don't give up. That is so true in SO many areas of life.

Grace,
Karen