Tally

If you know me at all, you know that I am a dog person.  My parents raised and showed dogs as far back as I can remember.  I have already written about Terry, our Airedale and the first dog I can remember, who taught me how to read.  Then there was Jack, our Dalmation, and a lot of Miniature Schnauzers.  The first Miniature Schnauzer puppy we purchased, when I was five, attached herself to me and thus became mine.  I'm sure it was because, the first night we had her at home, I somehow made her cry.  Everyone else in the family yelled at me, and I felt like the world had ended.   I ran up to my room and didn't come down until the next day.  From that time on, that dog rarely left my side.  I even showed her to her CD title!

This blog was not supposed to be about me as a kid, but about Tally, a Pekingese who now lives with Den and me.  Tally was a rescue Pekingese, and we adopted her because Tater (the other Pekingese) was such a cute and funny little guy.  Tally had a bad eye when we got her, and had to make several trips to the vet's office for treatment and watching.  A week ago Tally's good eye went bad.  It just seemed like it imploded.  Emergency trip to the vet's.  This time, they said we had to take her to a dog ophthalmologist if we wanted to save her eye.

Here we are a week later.  She has had surgery on her eye and is now trying to see through part of a pig's intestine.  The ophthalmologist said she put everything in the eye back together -- the cornea, iris, and whatever else is there -- and sewed a patch made from pig intestine over the top to hold it all in place until it heals.  It looks horrible!  But she can actually see a little, so it's worth it.

Now comes the hard part for us.  We have to keep Tally calm and quiet for the next two or three weeks so she doesn't tear loose any of the stitches.  She can't play with Tater or her toys; no walks through the neighborhood, no glimpses of the neighbor dogs.  She can only go out into the back yard on a leash for short periods.  She has to wear an e-collar, and has so many medicines that I had to make a chart on a spreadsheet to know when to give her what.

I think that we were meant to be Tally's family.  She was a throwaway dog that had five different homes before she was a year old.  Her right eye had ruptured and had become infected before anyone could or would take care of it.  Now we have her, and we have her for life.  She is such a sweet little dog, and she deserves to have a forever home.  With a little luck, she will be able to see a bit and enjoy life.