Galena Cardigans: A wonderful small dog

Nugget. A fantastic daddy dog. A great companion. My heart dog. But there is much more to him than even I realized until recently.

Somehow this little dog is able to detect slight flares in my disease before I can. The first time it happened I thought it was just a fluke. The second time it was a bit of an interesting coincidence to me. The third time I could no longer deny it.

He has very interesting ways of alerting me. He hovers. He always hovers, but with a "flare" he is stuck to me like glue. I step on him. I trip over him. I curse him and tell him to move. He won't budge. Now that I recognize it, he will also point out the site where the problem is surfacing. Before it actually turns really bad. I have a protocol to follow, but being able to catch it early is paramount. This disease took one leg, threatened the other, and most recently almost took my hand. The sooner we catch a relapse, the better chance of knocking it back before it goes crazy. Lesions that at one time covered my entire leg are now stopped before they get the size of the head of a pin. How does he do it? I haven't a clue. Perhaps there is a smell that only he detects? The other dogs are oblivious unless it get really bad. (At that point even I can smell it!) My activities do not change as I have no clue when he finds it. Two days after I start the anti rejection drugs he returns to his normal every day stuff. Generally that is about the time that I see that there was indeed an issue, but it is also then healing.

So, you see, this dog means more to me than a title and genetic history. This dog may have saved my life...At the very least he has helped me to keep my life as normal as my life has ever been; and I am not really that into being "normal" if that means slowing down.

The really nice thing about having Nugget around (well, one of the many nice things) is that I no longer fret about a relapse. There was a time that every little bump, cut or scrape would scare the heck out of me. Any of those things can go bad really fast. With Nugget I don't have to worry unless it is really warranted. And I do now trust him to tell me. He will. I have no doubt at all.

Right now my shin is skinned open. Now THAT must smell as I am constantly booting the other dogs away from it. Nugget? He is sleeping about five feet away from me. If I get up and go to the kitchen he follows, but at a distance. Normal behavior for the Nugg-butter. And I am not freaking out about it. At all. He will tell me if I need to jump on the meds.

So. Enjoy his beauty. Enjoy his wonderful temperament and attitude toward the pups. Be happy that he has that title. I am too. I will forever be grateful for the gift of this little dog, and for all involved in making it happen. None of us had a clue what part he would truly hold in my life. I doubt that twelve week old pup did either back then.