My daughter, Christine, has an Italian Greyhound, named Ruthie which looks just like a little toy animal.  It sure doesn't look like something related to the greyhounds running at the track or painted on the side of the buses!

If Ruthie weighs nine pounds, I'd be shocked.  She's sleek looking, but her ribs still show a bit which always makes me want to go buy her a sandwich!  (Why are ribs showing considered a hound trait?  Beats me!)

We almost lost Ruthie a few months ago after she was spayed.  Christine called me all upset saying she picked Ruthie up from the veterinarian after a spaying operation the day before.  Ruthie couldn't walk!  The doctor didn't know what was wrong except the dog wasn't walking, but he didn't know why, although he thought maybe a stroke, maybe something else? 

Christine asked me to come over and look at Ruthie.  I guess she figured I raised two kids, so I'd know how something about her sick dog.  After driving 40 miles across rural Ohio, I walked in her house and see Ruthie, laying in a bean bag chair, flopped down and not moving.  I whistled and the dog perked up her ears and the tip of her tail at me.  I thought, "Hmmm. She knows who I am, so that's good."  I walked over, knelt down and looked at her eyes.  "Christine, your dog's eyes look like ice chips.  If she was a teenager, I'd say she's been smoking dope.  I think the dog is still doped up on anesthesia."

Grabbing the trusty cell phone, I called a friend who used to work at a vet's clinic.  A couple of phone calls later, we got word from a veterinarian friend of this friend that my uneducated diagnosis is probably right, but we need to take her to a 24-hour animal hospital to be re-examined.  The good folks at Ohio State University's animal hospital confirmed Grandpa Bluejeans' uneducated diagnosis--the dog was still doped up from the anesthesia!  With an overnight stay at OSU and a little help from Grandpa Bluejeans' credit card, Ruthie walked out the next day as good as new after an IV flushed the remaining medication out of her muscles. 

As you can see from this picture, Ruthie is fully recovered and doing well today. 

Oh, you noticed the blue metal dog tag?  Take a look here to see what it says.*  I wonder what the new vet will think when he sees that one!

  *  If you can't read it clearly, the tag says: 

"Grandpa Bluejeans saved my ass!"