Dog Blog: Milo the wonder dog survives a crisis

Jennifer, a native Coloradoan who lived in a condo, was partial to larger dogs and had longed for a pooch of her own for some time but didn’t think it fair to have a dog prone to playing hard when she only had space for maybe a hamster. She bought a house, but a house without a dog was lonely, an all-too-quite place to be. It was just a house. To make it a home she had to have that special doggy.

She went on the hunt and adopted Milo, a black Labrador retriever of the English variety. He was blacker than black, with a shiny coat (almost reflective) and now stands about 3 feet, 3 inches from paw to the top of his head. He came from a breeder, the Riorock Labs, in southern Colorado in December 2006.

After careful examination she picked Milo out of the whole litter because he was the most curious and a real sweetie. He waited patiently, a very hard thing to do at 6 weeks old especially if you are an energetic Lab pup. While his brothers and sisters climbed all over Jennifer nipping at her and pulling on her shoe strings they finally all got tired and walked off in pursuit of other things, Milo waited and then bounced right up and sat square in the middle of Jennifer’s lap! Yep, He’s the one!

Milo got his name from Milo Aukerman, the singer-songwriter and biochemist most famously known as the lead singer for the punk rock band the Descendents.

So how did Milo become such a wonder dog? Only a dog that can climb five peaks higher than 14,000 feet in Colorado before he was 3 years old and swim the treacherous lakes in Colorado could be a wonder dog.

After 15 years of living in her home state, in March of this year Jennifer decided she just couldn’t pass up a great job opportunity in Orange County. She was offered the job here and moved to our beloved Laguna Beach. Milo, with all of his patience, endured the packing, organizing, the 24-hour drive in the car, a hotel room in Vegas — then all of the unpacking and reorganizing. But at last he found himself in a brand new home — only problem was that somebody took off with the mountains, shrunk the yard and all that was left that was steep to climb was the road home after a walk up 9th Street.

Milo found California an adjustment and a challenge. He is afraid of the waves — he is brave enough to chase after them as they recede and attack all of the kelp left in their wake only to run away from the waves as they crest on the beach.

Milo is a career dog, going to work with Jennifer every day. He greets all the folks at the office with a big wag of his tail. He will sit very nicely for everyone in hopes that someone will give him a treat for his good behavior, once again a very patient pooch.

In late June this year, a nice co-worker of Jennifer’s gave him a rib eye steak bone that the friend had been specially saving up for Milo. Milo gobbled it up in no time flat, having a vacuum cleaner reputation — a typical Lab trait. Even though he had never had a steak bone before, Jennifer thought nothing of it. But...

We know from some research that the symptoms of an obstruction vary depending on the location of the blockage. The most common factor is the presence of vomiting, loss of appetite and difficulty defecating.

If your dog swallows a bone, what should you do?

This is something quite common. You look away from the table for one second only to discover your dog getting into your chicken wings or steaks. As soon as you chase your dog, he swallows it whole. What to do in this case?

Cooked bones, unlike raw bones, are more likely to splinter. It helps to give some bread that will wrap around the bone hopefully protecting the stomach and intestinal lining.

All that remains to do in most cases is just give it a wait and see.

Dogs that begin to appear listless, not interested in food, start vomiting, have abdominal pain, bloody or tarry stools, strain to pass stools or just do not act normal should be seen by the vet immediately.

Milo was starting to show the above symptoms; he threw up a little bit that night, but it didn’t seem to be anything to get worried about. Then he threw up his breakfast. Then he stopped eating all together. By the third day he started throwing up again. The first vet Jennifer saw thought he just needed to work the pieces of the bone through his system.

By the fourth day Jennifer was really, really worried and took him to Animal Urgent Care in Mission Viejo. After X-rays and barium series they found a big chunk of the bone he had not thoroughly chewed in his haste to get to the good stuff and it got stuck sideways in is his small intestine. There was nothing to do but surgery to remove it.

These are the times with our pets when money — even a whole lot of money — does not compare to the amount of worry and buckets of tears. Milo now is just about back to his old self. Through it all he was a trooper and always tried to be strong for his mom who unlike wonder dog was a bowl of Jell-O over the whole incident.

Through this whole experience Jennifer learned some practical lessons; we should really pay attention to our dog’s individual habits if they change their routine radically or even something is going on that just gives you a gut feeling — you then begin to know, not just suspect, something is wrong.

You are the one who spends all day or a large part of your day with them and would know best if you need to seek help; after all, your vet may only see him once a year and may have to throw out a diagnosis that is based on limited contact with your dog.

You also need to be proactive with your vets. If the doctor gives you the “let’s wait and see what happens,” keep pressing because you know something is wrong — push him/her to find out if there are more aggressive steps to take to determine what the cause may be.

Jennifer expressed some regret that she did not do this and thinks she could have been more diligent with her observations of and seeking Milo’s care which in, my opinion, she was.

Milo is back to his old self, which includes sitting patiently for you in hopes that the thing in your hand is a tasty treat for him. He is back to attacking all the kelp on the beach as if it were prey; he is doing that Lab hunting thing. He is back to loving Mommy scratch his belly and behind his ears. These days he has a silly grin on when he gets up in the morning. His eyes say “Hey, get up! It is a new day and we’re lucky enough to live in Laguna, so let’s go have some fun!”

Our pets can’t tell us what is wrong with them, but if we are conscientious in our care giving, mindful of their habits and talk to our vets to insure they get the help they need, they will get that help.

Pegi Lopez lives in Laguna Beach.