New dogge

Some grousers already know about my new dog.  Ezra is a six-month old setter from Chuck and Nancy Thurston's Whispering Woods kennel in Michigan.  I was on my way through Michigan a couple of weeks ago to the Orion board meeting and so arranged to stop by the Thurstons' to take a look at the dog.  Six hours of visiting later, I was pretty much committed but knew I had to run it by She-Whom-We-All-Know-Must-Be-Consulted-With-First.

Well, luckily Wendy has never met a dog that she didn't like, so she deliberated for a second or so and then said yes.  Now, one of the things that I knew about the dog ahead of time (and one reason why he was still available), is that he had developed a limp at five months.  The Thurstons had had him checked out, x-rayed, etc., and they told me he was fine according to their vet.  The limp had cleared up by the time I saw him, so I committed to the purchase.

Brought him home--beautiful dog, one of the calmest dogs we have ever seen.  But wouldn't you know it, the first day out with Wendy's boxer, running up and down the trail, and Ezra pulled up lame again.  So we made a vet appointment to have him checked out again and arranged to have the Michigan vet's x-rays sent to our vet in Trumansburg.

Well . . .  the Michigan vet had missed the fact that Ezra has a hairline fracture to one of the bones in his elbow.  Our vet expressed surprise that the Michigan doctor hadn't caught the fracture in the x-ray.  But in some ways this is a relief, as I had done enough internet research to start worrying about everything from elbow dysplasia to hypertrophic osteodystrophy. Good news is, with restricted activity the dog should heal on his own, with no lasting effects, in 10-14 weeks from the original injury, that is, if we can keep him from re-injuring it.

So there you have it. A new addition to the stable, and instantly the best-mannered house dog (next to Aldo) in the bunch.  He should be a nice addition to our grouse camp ponies.

New dogge