Dakota

Dakota is a friend of mine. I went to see him this morning. As usual, he was glad to see me. It wasn’t always that way; he didn’t like me the first time I came to visit.

Dakota is a shih tzu….

Short, with long hair, intense brown eyes and a turned-up nose, Dakota is quite the handsome man. Just ask him. Or tell him how handsome he is, if you want to see a tail wag a dog.

Now that our misunderstanding is long past, Dakota is glad to see me and glad to have me take care of his mom. I don’t blame him for being concerned; after all, his mom did go to the hospital for almost a month. While she was gone, he had to stay with his “brother” and he has a cat! It was almost more than Dakota, an only dog, could bear.

That first time I visited, Dakota barked at me and would not stop, no matter how his mom told him. When she lightly ‘popped’ him on the nose, he only sneezed and started barking again. And so she swatted his hind end.

He stopped barking.

She told him to go in the other room and be a good dog. Poor guy, he was humiliated. Not only did he get a pop on the nose, and a swat on the hind end, now she was calling him a dog and telling him to go away. And all he did was try to tell me to leave her alone.

I looked at him and his expression was so forlorn…..I invited him to come sit by me by patting the couch next to me. He wasn’t sure about me, still……but it was better than being sent to his room. And so, he jumped up on the couch and settled in next to me.

As I was doing my assessment, and taking vital signs, my patient and I were talking and I forgot all about Dakota. As I deaccessed and reaccessed her porta cath with a new needle, I was completely focused on the task at hand. I put a bandage over the new needle and was cleaning up the mess I made when the patient and I suddenly became aware of someone snoring—very loudly!

Dakota had inched his way around behind me on the couch, out of sight, and had fallen asleep. Apparently, he was no longer worried that I might hurt his mom! And he and I have been friends ever since.

Dogs are not just dogs when “mom” or “dad” is a patient. They become four-legged guardians, protective of their masters, and wary of strangers who come into their home and do things. And they are helpmates and companions, too. They keep their masters company and provide a handy “person” to talk to, or watch TV, or lay on the couch and snore….

I have met many dogs in my home health career. Most of them are like Dakota: wary at first, but sensing that I mean their masters no harm, and that “I know my place.” And I do know about dogs: they all know that I come to the house to visit them, first, and then their mom or dad. As long as I give them attention first, and demonstrate that I am kind, and that I mean nobody any harm, they are fine with having me around.

Of course, it never hurts to tell them that they are handsome, either!