If you know my dog or have heard stories about my dog, I'm sure you are cackling at this the title of this blog.
Believe it or not, it’s National Take Your Dog to Work Day. We’ll just go ahead and save everybody’s ears in the Research Medical Office building and pretend Ries came to work with me. Somebody doesn’t quite appreciate strangers like her mom does.
When I was growing up we never had pets which is kind of funny as my Grandpa was a veterinarian. And truth be told, I never envisioned myself to be a dog owner. But here I am with my adopted sidekick and I can’t imagine life without her.
When I started having to use a non-invasive ventilator at night last year, we introduced her to the piping and mask and she got in my lap and checked it out. I caught her biting the piping just one time and sniffing it on the bedside table periodically. But not to worry, she’s figured out how to lick my face even with the mask on.
Ries is part basenji/part Boston terrier. A basenji is an African hunting dog which are known for their emotional connection to one specific person. Maybe a couple others but generally their circle is relatively small.
Ries lives up to this nature and takes this work very seriously. She knows she is protector of the circle and a companion to her mom. So, while I may not have brought Ries to my physical office with me today, she knows her job and she succeeds times one hundred! Ries is by my side after nearly every treatment. When I’ve had nurses in the home, she has learned to accept them, and she will watch them very closely and carefully. In the moment, she knows to stay right by my side and make sure I'm alright.
So who needs Take Your Dog to Work Day? And whoever said a dog is just a dog, was very mistaken! Rescuing Ries or is that Ries rescuing me, has been one of the best decisions I’ve made as somebody fighting myasthenia gravis.
Do you have a furry companion that is hard at work?
