The shivering began a few days prior to our latest holiday.
The weather was still fairly cool...
so we assumed that being a southern California girl...
that Roxy was feeling a bit chilled.
It seemed confirmed that evening once we went into the house.
The following day was her trip to the vet for booster shots
and the obligatory heart worm test.
She was very good for the vet and the office visit went well.
No heart worms detected.
She didn't bat an eye at the shots.
Off we trundled home, preventative meds in hand.
That night the shivering returned.
I thought...
okay, my babies used to have reactions from shots,
why should the dog be any different?
It would pass.
The weather turned hotter and we thought this might help.
Pup would wake up happy and energetic
but by evening she was back to quaking.
She stopped eating treats...
but her food always vanished in the night
and her water dish continued to need a refill.
Then it was the 4th of July.
We knew from a previous shooting outing that Roxy does not like gun fire.
As the little crackers began early in the day...
she moved into the bathroom and jammed herself
between the tub and the toilet.
So I removed the toilet rug and replaced it with her favorite blanket.
The man set up the boom box and after trying several
stations settled on soft Christian rock...
cranked up to drown the sound of rockets.
Roxy managed to survive the celebration with continued quakes,
and remained glued to her safety zone.
We had already decided to make a vet appointment on the following day.
A fierce pig bull should not shake and shiver.
But Tuesday morning she came out of her bathroom and greeted the day full of happy wiggles.
She was still turning her nose up to pig ears... he favorite treat...
but accepted the vita bones from her cookie jar
with her usual dainty and careful bite.
She seemed so much better!
Around 4:00 PM the quivering began anew.
Damn.
This continued for a few days with the shakes growing dimmer.
Two days ago she once more began accepting pig ears...
and happily ran out to the lawn to devour them.
The crisis had passed.
Last night we were out in the shop enjoying the evening.
The shop door... a standard garage door... was up.
My happy pup wedged herself under my chair and began to shiver.
About that time we heard a very faint, very distant soft thud
of a firework.
I never imagined that her hearing was so good.
Poor thing!
As it turns out, it is only fireworks that make her quake.
Her hearing is so good that she hears crackers that we can't.
So please people... now that the celebration is over...
would you please stop shooting off fireworks until New Year?
It would mean the world to one very fierce pig bull.
Thank you!
