I had food poisoning last week. Still on antibiotics, but feeling better. I want to talk about my decision to leave Keeper at home and not take her to the ER.
It boils down to having a service dog to help me. That is always their job, always the focus of their work. They help me. And if they aren't helping me in that context, then they aren't service dogs in that context.
At that particular time, with that particular illness, given that it takes Keeper a couple seconds to get up and get moving, and that she's still a looky-loo who moves slowly and thoughtfully through medical offices, I could see a lot of downsides to taking her with, and minimal downsides to leaving her home. I wasn't walking or standing around (or if I needed to go somewhere, I could use a wheelchair to keep me safe), I wouldn't be anywhere I couldn't have someone else pick up something I dropped.
Additionally, I didn't know how long I'd be there, and I was in no condition to care for her. If it had been bronchitis, a migraine, or a sprained ankle where she could help and we could go slowly, if it had been an injury or an illness where I could still devote some of my energy to making sure she had water, meals and walks, I would have taken her. But I was too sick.
So I left her home. It might have been strongly influenced by crapping my pants because she was asleep in front of me bedroom door, and I could not get her clear of the door, get the door open, and flee to the bathroom in time.
She's a good dog, and a solid worker, but "lightning fast" is not in her repertoire. She does have a strong herding instinct, and is impressively nimble on her feet for a dog who weighs over one hundred pounds, but she's not a twitchy, high drive dog who jumps to her feet at a moment's notice. I haven't worked on her leaping out of a down. (Outside of my bowels betraying me, I don't need it.)
I've left Keeper home while she had a heat cycle. I think bitches smell awful while in heat. I didn't take Duncan to my veterinary parasitology course because we were working with infected and infectious stool. (Someone did manage to break a tube, splattering cat feces with hookworm ova on me. I left to take a shower, and still felt unclean.)
I'm sure there are other times and other instances that I've left Duncan at home when he was working, other than him or me being sick. In some ways, I think it keeps my coping skills sharp, and prepares us both for being separated for medical issues.
The thing is, just like a cane, walker, or wheelchair, my dogs have jobs as medical devices. Sometimes that job means staying out of the way, and sometimes that job means waiting at home until they're needed again. The next time, if I think I'll need her more than I'll need to be able to dash for the bathroom at an instant's notice, Keeper will go to the ER.
I'm not surgically attached to my service dogs, and that means using them or not is always me trying to balance my needs and abilities against their needs and abilities. This time, Keeper stayed home, and welcomed me warmly, and that's what I needed from her.
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