Where there is a will there is a way.
Pagan my lovely cocker spaniel is now 11 years old, he has so many things wrong with him that I was told it was unlikely he would live past 5 years old. He was a fantastic puppy so clever and by the time he was one he was doing agility, dancing and gundog classes. Then things started to go wrong, he seemed to lose interest in everything and his temperament went down hill fast. As you can imagine many visits were made to the vets who could find nothing wrong with him and they suggested he was depressed.
At this time I had decided to work in Spain for Jan and Feb so I could afford to keep paying the overheads for Animal Magic Dog Club while we were shut for the winter. So Kathy (Club Secretary) and I drove to Spain neither of us having done hardly any driving abroad! We got there safely after many adventures and booked in with the local vet who immediately diagnosed Pagan as being virtually blind due to a vitamin E deficiency. Apparently it is quite common in cockers and if he had been blood tested as a puppy his sight could have been saved by vit E supplementation. But there was no turning back the clock and to save the tiny bit of sight he had he started on a regime of vit E every day. The condition also effected the stability of his joints and his ability to process information so special joint and brain supplements joined the regime.
To adapt to the new regime all our training changed to sound , touch and telepathy and soon he was doing a 24 obstacle agility course and dances.
A few years passed were things seemed to be stable then all of a sudden he was so tired he couldn’t put one foot in front of the other, as I have a thyroid problem I took him to the vet and said I think my dog has a thyroid problem, why do you think that said the vet ? Because I said he looks as tired as me….and yes he did have a thyroid problem so more tablets to add to mix and a fantastic improvement in energy and a much sweeter temperament.
But in all of this Pagan has stoically soldiered on and thoroughly enjoyed life ,always demanding meals on time and always loving new adventures. But as ever just when you think all is OK he lost his hearing. We had a few weeks where the world tilted but by changing his training to touch, scent work and telepathy we are up and running again.
So here we are in Spain where we still work in the winter. Pagan can negotiate and enjoy most things but finds too much road work will make him go lame. So Aunty Kathy (club secretary) to the rescue by lending us a doggy pushchair which means we can go for miles ,off lead on the soft and in the buggy on the hard.
So no matter what life throws at you and your dog always remember where there is a will there is a way. A very happy New Year to all our marvellous Animal Magic members and theire dogs.
Best Wishes Bronwen Bell-Batchelor Club Manager
