Friday Night Rewind

Friday night started off pretty normal. D and I made a campfire out back while we waited for his friend to arrive from Michigan.  I roasted marshmallows as usual while D kept the fire going by cutting up 2x4s with a hand saw... yes that's how we roll. Even though our backyard is a forest, for some reason he insists on cutting up 2x4s the whole night.

Sorry for crappy cell phone pics...

I was cuddling my little Bear and we were having a good goofy time. Soon after, I noticed Bear just standing there with his back towards me. I told him to "come" to me and he didn't move. I proceeded to walk him around the fire pit towards the house, and suddenly my little Bear was not at all himself.  He stood there, his legs wobbling like he was about to faint.  His eyes looked glassy and tired. I picked him up and put him on the deck. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him but I knew something was up because I have never seen that look in his eyes before.

He sat down on the deck and I poured some cold water on his head, thinking that maybe he was too hot or something.  The whole time I was holding his head up because he looked like he was about to fall right over.  Then he threw up, and pooped at the same time. Something else I had never seen him do before. We brought him inside and laid him on the cool tile floor. He just laid there, panting and so sad looking, as I pet him and squirted water in his mouth with a syringe.

I was scared. I didn't know what to do and I had no idea if he should be taken to an animal hospital or not, and if he were to go, I had no idea where the closest one was.  Did he eat something poisonous outside?  Was he overheated?  I curled up on the floor with him with tears in my eyes and wished for him to get better fast.  I kept talking to him and telling him I loved him and he was going to be ok (because I like to believe he can actually understand me... ;)) and did all the things that I would have done for a human... got him a cold cloth for his head, made him try to drink water, etc.  I had no idea if these things would make a dog feel better or not, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try... and I couldn't just NOT do anything.

After about half an hour of laying there together, I got up to get something from another room. The little sweet boy pulled himself up out of his sickly state and followed me.  I was so happy!  He was moving again!  I sat with him some more on the carpet of our living room and he instantly started to look better.  He even started drinking the water I was providing for him out of the syringe. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a fun way to drink, because he wouldn't touch the water directly out of the bowl.

Then one of our neighborhood friends knocked at the door. Bear was back to his old self and ran to the door to greet him.  I was shocked at how fast he recovered from his random bout of deathly sickness.

This morning, I went out to the fire pit to clean up a bit. What did I find on the ground where I first noticed him being wobbly? My marshmallow stick with some marshmallow goo on the top.  I then put it together... the little guy was eyeballing my marshmallows all night long, and had probably tried to eat the goo on the top of my leftover stick.

The moral of this story: never give a dog a marshmallow.

Bonus fact: one of my nicknames for Bear has always been little marshmallow.
I'm just glad he's back to normal. I don't know what I would do without that little face.
xox dana