It’s crazy how one poorly placed foot can change your life, or at least cause a lot of pain and aggravation. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way when I slipped on some ice in our driveway and went crashing face forward onto the frozen blacktop at the end of January.
One minute I was upright, trying my hardest to walk like a penguin like the “experts” advise. The next minute I was on my stomach in the driveway, pain ripping through my right shoulder. I don’t know how long I laid there, but apparently, I cried out loud enough that my college-aged son came running outside to see if I was ok.
Basically, I landed on my left palm and right elbow, which caused my right shoulder to do something bad. I am going through physical therapy and having a MRI seems eminent.
Fortunately, we have a fenced yard since I can only comfortably walk one dog at a time. It’s also been way too cold for fun walks and mini-adventures, although my daughter and I took advantage of one day when temperatures soared to forty degrees to take the dogs to the state park. However, I started thinking about another fall that I had about fifteen years ago when I lived with my late Labrador Retriever Babe.
Back then I was single and Babe and I lived in an apartment, so I had nobody to help and we did not have a fenced in yard. One day I missed a step at my old office and fell down five or so stairs, ending up with two broken toes, a sprained ankle, a sprained wrist, and a little chip of bone off of my elbow.
This accident also occurred during winter, and I still remember that for a week I walked her while wearing an open-toed medical boot. That might not sound so bad, except that I lived in a part of the Midwest where we received six new inches of Lake Effect snow every single day. The grassy areas were bumpy and hurt like hell on my ankle, the sidewalks were icy, and my sock kept getting wet. On top of that, my sprained wrist and banged up elbow made picking up poop a painful process.
I can name probably at least ten more times in my life when random things happened with little to no warning, and having a pet sitter or dog walker would have helped or made life just a little bit easier. Whether you are the one who falls or you have to leave town immediately to tend to a relative, a pet sitter is someone who every pet owner needs to have in their trusted circle of dog care experts.
Even if you never travel or think you will have a need for someone to care for your dog, I strongly encourage you to have a pet sitter. When you have already done the research and have someone you trust, it gives you the ability to simply reach out and see if they can come help should you have a big emergency or just a situation where you really could use some help to make life easier and less painful.
For help finding a pet sitter who you can trust, check out this blog from my archives: https://lovelaughwoof.com/2017/03/professional-pet-sitter-week-finding-pet-sitters-kennels-you-can-trust/
For information on creating a dog care binder with information for pet sitters or family, check out this post: https://lovelaughwoof.com/2017/03/create-your-own-dog-care-binder-with-instructions-for-petsitters/
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