Ever since Action Jackson became the newest member of our pack, life as we knew it ceased to exist. We are at the far end of middle age and the four legged members of our pack are both over 11 (we don’t know how much because they came into our lives with no history to tell us), so we were well suited for the slow and steady lifestyle we’d settled in to. Action Jackson, on the other hand, has two speeds, 90 mph and off. And there doesn’t appear to be any interest on his part in living any other way. Had the circumstances been any other than if we didn’t adopt Jackson in two days he would be euthanized, we would have adopted an older, senior dog that has an energy level more fitting our lifestyle (or lack of one). But life has a way of taking you outside of your comfort zone, and to say Action Jackson has taken us to places far outside our comfort zone is an understatement. He is no longer a bag of bones and even managed to gain 17 pounds since we brought him home in August. Yes, I’m pretty shocked by that myself, but no matter how long I’ve been trying to convince myself otherwise, the scale doesn’t lie. Like us, he hasn’t met a food he doesn’t like and he’s very adept at figuring out how to find it in the sneakiest of my hiding places. He’s made himself at home here, and his endearing qualities far outweigh his terrorist qualities so he’s made it easy for us to fall in love with him. The other four legged members of the pack aren’t as fully on board with only seeing his redeeming qualities as we are, but every day it gets better. As with everything in life, nothing is easy and bringing Happy Jack into our home has proven to be anything but easy. While we were content settling into a routine consisting of the boredom we were so looking forward to, our peace was shattered early one morning when Jack began having grand mal seizures. It came on quickly with multiple seizures through the day, and if it’s something you’ve never experienced I pray you will never have to because it is the most frightening thing to be confronted with when you’re not prepared, and no one could be prepared to see your little love monkey’s body contort and shake followed with the loss of control of their bladder and bowels and foaming from the mouth. I was fortunate enough (and that’s a relative term) to have gone through grade school with a boy that suffered with grand mal seizures so this wasn’t my first experience with them and I knew immediately what was happening. We got him to the vet who confirmed he has epilepsy, and he’s taking medicine that is finally beginning to control the frequency of the seizures he suffers through. I continue to be ever hopeful the last seizure is his last seizure. I am grateful beyond words that my little guy didn’t begin having seizures until after he came to live with us because he would have been euthanized immediately due to his special needs and I would never have known the laughter and joy that only someone so far out of your realm of comfort can bring to your life. There are many special needs and senior dogs out there that are ready, willing and able to bring a joy to your soul unlike any you’ve known before, but you have to take the first step to let them in. As you are sitting around and thinking about how different your future has become since the economic meltdown, think about bringing joy into your life by adopting a special needs or senior dog. You won’t have time to feel sorry for yourself because your focus will be on something other than yourself, and knowing you are giving these animals a life they would not have otherwise will be rewarded with companionship and love that I guarantee will get you through the worst of days. I know because I’m enjoying the sloppy kisses and body hugs that have taken me from that place where I don’t know what I’m going to do to we can do anything so long as we are together as a family. Together, we have it all.
Life with a special needs pet.
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