Charlie's Rise from the Dead: A Tale of Gratitude

Just a quick warning, this is a distressing post and way outside of the kind of thing I would usually post about here, so you may want to skip this if you are looking for some wholesome upbeat content.

A few weeks ago, good old Charlie the dog started to have seizures, which were horrible and alarming to witness. As most people can imagine, and some of you will likely have first-hand knowledge of, seeing a pet in this state instead of them being the loving sweet companion you know is incredibly upsetting. So, the vets were soon looking at him, doing blood tests and writing prescriptions.

One evening while at my girlfriend’s, he went into a massive seizure, the first one I had witnessed, and after a short while of his little body shaking violently, his tongue came to a rest hanging out of the side of his mouth, and he stopped breathing. Lying on his side completely still and silent on the floor, me and my girlfriend were in floods of tears, in disbelief that he had passed away so suddenly. This was especially sad for my girlfriend who had had him for over eleven years since he was a puppy, but even I had come to love him dearly over the last few years.

Then after a few seconds, which at the time seemed like time stood still, he suddenly popped back up to his feet and started to sniff at the coffee table, attempting to reach the chocolate on top! I cannot explain the confusion, relief and joy at this moment, or just how much I completely and utterly believed he had died in our arms just a moment ago.

For the following week or so during Christmas and New Year, he was incredibly sluggish and seemed to have become very old very quickly. We kept a close eye on him, and I don’t think there was more than a twenty-minute period at any one time that he was not sat next to one of us. Blood tests, tablets and vet’s bills did not seem to ease him, but at least he wasn’t having seizures.

During this period, we were fearing that he would not make it far into January and it really put a sad tint over the Christmas period, having the quiet debate over when he might need “to go to the vets again” if we felt it necessary. I’m not trying to over play this or make out this is the greatest tragedy anybody was dealing with, (especially not with what has been happening in the world recently) but for us it was obviously a key issue that was never far from the front of our minds.

For that period Charlie got to live like a king. He was being carried in his bed up and down the stairs, eating more delicious human food than he had ever before, and was fussed and cooed over by every visitor or person he was carried to visit! He was still very slow and not deemed fit enough to walk anywhere, or be left unattended by any steps, either on the boat or in the house.

Then, literally overnight, he seemed to be back to normal! On the 4th of January we took him to a favourite field beneath Chirk Aqueduct and Viaduct by the river. This was his first walk in weeks, where he tugged and pulled on the lead, waded into the river, turned and shouted at us if we were too slow and generally filled us with amazement at his recovery of his spirit and energy!

He has now spent half a week acting as if nothing ever happened, almost becoming too lively! Constantly following us around and hoping to get a bite of anything he sees us dare to eat in front of him (due to his recovery he is back on a sensible diet!)

Obviously, we have to be realistic about his ongoing health, not only because of the previous seizures but also as he is an old man now in doggy terms. It is time to really be grateful and enjoy him for all his little quirks. As far as we are concerned, even just by getting him out to enjoy a dip in the river at Chirk, 2022 has already been a far better year than we expected!

Thanks for reading this unusual post from me,

As always,

Keep it boatworthy,

Keep it interesting,

and farewell!

Dan