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   Billie, the poodle, is not only the office dog, but he also likes to ride along with me on days when I am making sales calls or doing other business. When I go to the home office, he comes along and waits patiently on the couch, watching out the window. He can keep track of the goings on outside while waiting for me to quit doing whatever I am doing on the computer. He knows if he waits long enough, I will eventually go do something more exciting than sit at my desk.

   When we leave on a trip to town or a business call, there is a routine. I first take off his electronic collar which causes great excitement. When the collar comes off, he knows for sure that we are going to go do something fun. He happily loads up and we drive past the limit of his control collar. It does not matter if his collar is on or off, there is a line he will not cross. After reaching this point in the driveway, I let him out to run. Like a little kid, there are a couple of things that need to be taken care of before a road trip. A good run also takes off the edge of excitement, making traveling more tolerable. At the end of the driveway, he again loads up and we are off.

   One day last week, Billie needed to go to the vet for his routine shots and examination. I took him with me as I also needed to see a couple of people. The trip was rather uneventful until we arrived back home. The homecoming routine is just the opposite of the leaving series of events. When we get home, Billie gets to get out and run down to the house, checking all the smells along the way and relieving pent up energy.  This day, when he jumped out of the truck, he immediately got on the trail of a deer. She was sleeping in the tall grass just over the hill a short distance off the driveway. Before I could stop him, he was off. I saw him disappear over the hill and heard him cry as the deer ran bounding across the hay field. I ran to where Billie was crying and saw him standing with one front leg off the ground. Not knowing if the deer had stomped him, he tripped in a hole, or he had been stung by something, I helped him back to the truck. His ankle was already swelling when I lifted him into the vehicle. I thought his leg was probably broken.

   Back at the house, I explained to my wife what had happened. We can go for a year without seeing the veterinarian or we can see her twice in one day. After an examination and x-ray, the doctor determined the injury was just a severe sprain rather than a break. My wife and I were greatly relieved. We could only imagine having a rambunctious dog thumping around with a cast on his leg for a month. With some pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs, we headed for home again. This trip, he did not get to run down the driveway, which he found unusual and hard to understand. He was sure there was a deer nearby that needed to be chased.

   Billie is still sore and uses his injured leg sparingly. It is hard to watch an injured friend work at getting around, but he is doing better. He will soon be back to chasing squirrels from the front seat of the truck and guarding his domain from the office couch.

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