Gossip/Attack? 

I read this somewhere (wish I’d written it):

What some people say and how viciously they say it, says a lot about them. 

What you do with it says a lot about you.

For those of you that are part of the “attack”, enjoy yourselves.  This issue came up after I posted the last blog.  Perhaps the better part of valour would be for me to ignore it but I do feel a need to clarify a few things publicly for those of you that might get caught up in the drama:

-       When Swagger got sick, I made sure everyone was aware of the situation and kept people informed as we tried to discover what was going on (I would really have preferred to talk to just the people that perhaps needed the information but knowing the dog-game as well as I do, I figured everyone would have a field day if I didn’t explain it publicly).

-       At no point did we think this was a genetic problem (although I’ve always freely admitted that anything that happens to a living organism probably has some kind of genetic basis in the ability of that organism to respond to it).  It was a bacteria.  We treated him, it got worse.  When the first lab results came back, our first response was ‘holy sh*t’.  This bacteria was resistant to almost everything – no wonder we weren’t getting anywhere.  You could liken it to the ‘super-bugs’ they talk about with people.  Unfortunately, the drugs we brought in to fight this were meant for short term use and it is always a fear that other organs can be affected as the length of usage stretches out.  As lab tests continued over time, the bacteria changed and became even more resistant.  I was very public in letting people know about this.  I passed on the information when he seemed to get better and again when he had a relapse.   The bacteria never went away although we had times when it seemed like we were winning the battle.  I have no explanation for this.  Nor did the eventual pathology report.  It was what it was.

-       By the time he died, there was nothing new to report.  Everyone knew what I knew.  No secrets.  His breeder knew, my friends knew.  I still have the almost 20 cards I received so people were told but I didn’t go on a public message board to do the “big declaration”.  By that point, I wasn’t posting on the board anymore for a lot of other reasons, totally unrelated to this, and I’ve always felt like those kinds of posts are often just a plea for sympathy.  I wasn’t in the mood for expressions of sympathy unless they came from friends (and yes, I have many friends on the boards, they just aren’t all friends).  My vet and I had also, over that many months, related my determination to save Swagger to my husband’s illness.  While I have no desire to go into that further, it all fed into my inability to take out a billboard for a big announcement.

-       Ultimately, it all came down to this:

o      Everyone knew as many facts about this as I did.

o      Swagger was one incredibly strong dog to have coped with this problem (both in terms of his own basic health and his temperament) for as long as he did.  He became a favourite at the clinic because of his strong accommodating nature.

o      At no point was this determined to be genetic (as much as such things can be determined).

o      His death didn’t change the information.

o      I chose to share my grief with those that mattered to me.

So, suck it up people.  Aim your arrows elsewhere.  

Oh, and in case anyone is interested, his brother is a picture of health; his sister is now competing in veterans agility (neither of them have had any health issues); his kids all appear healthy and are doing well.  I had always avoided the opportunity to have Swagger used on dozens of bitches anyways (a position I wish more people would take - a topic for another blog). 

In other words, what the hell is your problem?  Sigh.

(note:  we've set up a stand-alone blog for the Bitchen Bitchez although I'll post those here as well for awhile.  If you want to bookmark the Bitchen site, it's now at www.sureshot.ca/bitchen )