Lessons from a Bulldog

Standing at the edge of the operating table, I watched my bulldog Ozzy undergo surgery. I couldn’t help but see the frailty of life as I watched his chest rise and fall. I have always been somewhat of a ‘farmer’ of sorts when it comes to animals, but my experience with Ozzy 3 years ago changed that.

Ozzy was just four months old when he contracted the Parvo Virus. If you don’t know what Parvo is, let me say that it is the ugliest of the diseases that puppies can contract before their own immune system comes up to speed. It causes massive dehydration and kills in just 48 hours without treatment. Even with treatment many don’t survive the dehydration and intestinal tissue loss it causes.

It was July 4th and we rushed our little bulldog to the emergency vet. The prognosis was not good and 3 days later with IV’s to replace lost fluids, we were taking Ozzy home with what the vet felt was little hope of recovery. I spent the next ten days sitting with him in our basement, Changing IV bags, cleaning up after him and trying to will him to live. He was hit by depression as well as the physical effects of the disease, but he fought on.

Ten days later, I emerged from the basement with him alive and on the road to recovery and I had a new friend for life.

Life and death demands center stage. It grabs you, stops you and causes you to set everything else aside. Our lives here are but a vapor. Here today, blown away by the wind tomorrow. A bulldog lives on the average 10 years. What a waste of such great personality. In those ten years, they struggle with all kinds of maladies known to afflict the breed. Still, when they look you in the eye with that smile from a head the size of an overfilled basketball and his tongue hanging out, you can’t help but realize the impact that they have on your life. You can’t help but smile. Why? Well, because they are nothing more than what they were created to be; a short bodied, large headed, wrinkled mass of joy!

They are so sure of themselves. They are not even afraid to fart in the company of people they have never met before. We’re not talking about a little stinker, but a full fledged “who died!” gut wrenching gaseous burst of death. You look at them and they just act like, “Wow, wasn’t that something?”

With the surgery finally complete, Ozzy struggled to overcome the effects the anesthesia had on his body. Still groggy we took him home to recover. That was two days ago. Tonight he is standing here in front of me. Catching treats I flip to him and simultaneously sneezing and farting and he just smiles.

There is a lot we could learn from Ozzy:

1. Not to get caught up in things we can’t control.
2. Enjoy each day no matter what it brings.
3. Nothing is that bad.
4. Never give up.
Oh and 5. Real friends don’t care how you smell!

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.
- Mark Twain