For Fail Friday (which I failed to get out on friday - the irony is overwhelming) I thought I'd talk about this loveable dickhead and the £150 he cost me this week because I had a sore gum.
How are those two things related you ask? Well, Leo is now fast heading towards being 10 years old, and he has a lot of unresolved health issues that despite a lot of tests, we're struggling to get to the bottom of. He is mostly deaf, has PUPD (he drinks a lot and pees a lot), and perhaps most stark of all, he has a massively increased and abnormally strong appetite which means he's constantly counter-surfing, and stealing things looking for any bit of food he can eat. He has in recent times raided the food bin, been found ON the kitchen table, and he regularly helps make sure the recycling is clean by stealing it out of the bin and licking/chewing it.
All of which means... when I sat down at the kitchen table earlier this week to have dinner with the fam, and was in the process of getting out a couple of ibuprofen for the toothache and I dropped the first one as I pushed it out the blister pack... he was on it in a flash. A couple of seconds of carelessness and poof - it gone!
Cue immediate swearing, mild panic, and so many 'why didn't I' thoughts. Nevertheless, I couldn't stew in my self-pity because I knew how poisonous to dogs Ibuprofen is. Even one tablet can cause toxicity and acting fast is crucial (particularly getting treatment within the first hour), so straight into the van, 20 mins straight to the awesome folks at Carmarthen Veterinary Centre and Hospital and one emetic injection later, my wallet is now lighter to the tune of £150 - but perhaps more importantly, I still have my gorgeous and at times infuriating boy, who I'd be lost without, and seemingly with no ill effects.
We all have fails. Some are funny. Some are expensive 🙃 All can be learned from.
So to finish with a little bit of reframing (gotta look for those positives!), I particularly like that Nelson Mandela quote, 'I never lose. I either win or I learn.' And boy have I done some learning this week!