The hard thing about dealing with animals in pain is that they can’t tell us what is wrong and we feel especially responsible for them. Lenore in pain definitely hits a sore spot for me, she is the sweetest creature that ever lived and she kept love alive for me when I thought I would leave the world without ever finding it.

I remember the cold winter night at the first Bedlam Farm, Lenore was two or three months old and slept in a crate every night, and she looked at me when I headed up to bed and I just opened the crate door and picked her up and carried her upstairs and put her on the foot of the bed, where she has slept every night since. She is the Love Dog, she filled a huge hole in my heart – I was alone by then and going to pieces.

Lenore made me smile, lifted me up every night. When people tell me animals  should never be used to amuse or entertain people (a/k/a) lift them up, I know right away that they don’t know what they are talking about, or they are talking right out of their butts.

Lenore is still hurting, and quite a bit, if she is not better in the morning, we’ll take her back to the vet for X-rays, she will probably require some sedation and then, if it seems she has a disc issue, she will almost surely be put on steroids, that will surely be the vet’s recommendation. I’m talking to her wonderful breeder Gretchen Pinkel of Kee-Pin Labs tonight. Gretchen is the best and most conscientious breeder I have ever known and I will value her insight and advice heavily.

Lenore yelped in pain when I came in the house tonight, it is hard to hear it. I told her we would figure it out – with little or not drama – and help her. The pain of animals requires great patience, thought and calm in humans, it is a hard thing to see.