Go Figure, Wobbley Legs Walks Again

I don't get it. Earl came home on Tuesday after going to Utah for a week for a friends funeral. We were afraid he would come home and have to bury another dear friend. I was anxious to see Earl's reaction when he saw how gaunt and debilitated Vic had become, and sure enough, Vic demonstrated his weakness and inability to get from here to there, looking a bit like a frog with his hind legs tucked up under him bent and feeble. I could see it hurt Earl's heart. It made me cry.

So I come home from work last night on Wednesday and Vic greats me fully up on all fours, mostly stable. He's had a hard time being completely able to move his feet without tripping since he was hospitalized, but this was amazing to me!!! How could he go from being so weak and unable to move and then be fully able to walk with little more than and occasional trip of the feet? And then to top it off, I come home from shopping today and Nate tells me Vic has been up on the land with he and Earl while they were cutting down scrub oak and Vic followed them all the way up to the top of the land and back down. What? He walked all that way and back? How in the.......................!! I don't believe it.

The only explaination I can come up with, is that every time Earl leaves, poor Vic goes downhill. I think he gets depressed and it truly effects him physically. I think he is afraid Earl won't ever return. What a love. What an amazing kind of love between dog and master.

Vic reminds me of Earl, he is big and kind of scarey at times. Yet I can see in Vic's eyes that as he gets older, he becomes more vulnerable. Both of them like to be in the open spaces of the land and enjoy their independence. Neither of them understand what's happening as their bodies age and become more feeble, unable to perform as they used to. Both are desperately devoted to those they love, yet there is a side that is misunderstood. Vic being beaten as a pup has made him very defensive about anyone, more specifically males, getting close to his hind quarters or his face.

Both Vic and Earl are big. It's their breed. They don't know when they're being scarey. They don't understand why some people stay away from them. But those who stay away don't know what they are missing. It's been worth it to me to earn Vic's love. I can see it in his eyes. He loves me and I know he knows I love him too. I know Earl knows I love him, even though I've bared my teeth in defense of my kids or the things I believe in. I hug him and tell him I'm glad he's come home. I hope his children will some day come home too before he is gone and it's too late.