Our golden retriever, Nelson, has always been lazy. This frustrates his energetic yard mate Bob and my athletic husband, Sandon, who takes the two dogs running whenever he can. Nelson’s default position is flat on his back in the shade. Even as a puppy, he would give up in the middle of a walk and lie down. “Keep him moving,” warned our vet at the time. “He needs plenty of exercise, or he’ll end up obese.”
One morning my husband, Bob and Nelson had been running for 15 minutes on a state forest trail, when Sandon urged the trailing Nelson to catch up. Nelson was a bit wobbly and, as Sandon slowed down, Nelson veered off the trail and flopped into a deep puddle. He couldn’t get up. Was it a tick? Or a snake bite?
Frantic, Sandon carried nearly 40kg of mud-soaked dog back to the car and rushed him to the vet. Tests, IV drips, near-death experiences and thousands of dollars of intensive care later, it turned out he has a problem keeping cool.
On the run he’d overheated and a lot of his muscle tissue had been destroyed. That had poisoned his blood, which was why we nearly lost him. He slowly regained his strength, but there will be no more running for Nelson. He uses that robust-looking body to lie in the shade – just as he always knew he should.
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