What I am about to tell you happened the same day that Cooper went on his first walk with Shiloh. He had never walked that far (almost 3 miles), so at 6:00 p.m., when he crashed on the threshold between the kitchen and family room, I wasn't surprised. I took a photo of him and sent it to Kathy, saying Cooper was really tired from the walk.
Since he was fast asleep, I decided to go down to the street and move my car back up to the garage. When I came back into the house, I startled him. He jumped up and made a strange high-pitched sound. I couldn't see him at first because the kitchen island was between me and him.
When I did see him, he was walking as though he had just come out of anesthesia. He was wobbly, and his eyes looked funny. He was running into things. When he proceeded to throw up, I thought he must have hit his head on the doorframe and now had a concussion. I was worried about him, so I called our vet.
After I told the girl who answered the phone what Cooper's symptoms were, she asked me if he could have gotten into some marijuana. I said, "Absolutely not! I think he has a concussion." She said they were closing soon and I should take him to the emergency vet to get checked out.
After checking in at the emergency vet, they took Cooper back to get his vitals. I sat in a room waiting for maybe 10 minutes. A vet tech came in and sat down. She asked me if there was any possibility Cooper could have gotten into some marijuana. What? She said it was OK if he did. I told her there was no marijuana in our house and he was with me all day. Then I sat in the waiting room for four hours.
Finally, they called me back to talk to the vet. When he came in, the first thing he asked me was if Cooper could have gotten into marijuana. I insisted that he had a concussion. The vet said he did not see any neurological symptoms that would indicate a concussion, and he would have had to run full speed into the doorframe to get one. He said Cooper had all the symptoms of marijuana toxicity, including leaking urine. He wanted to run the THC test to verify his theory. By this time, all these people must have thought I was a liar. I said OK.
When he left, I put on my thinking cap and tried to come up with a situation where this could possibly have happened.
Clue one: Two cleaning people were in our house from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Clue two: Two men were in and out of our house to replace a bedroom window from noon to 2:00 p.m.
Could one of these people have had a cannabis gummy that dropped out of their pocket? Could Cooper have found it in the house and eaten it? I have no idea, but his THC test came back positive. I almost fainted.
The vet recommended I take him home and let him sleep it off. It was already 12:30 when we began our drive home. He slept that night and most of the next day. That was the most peaceful I'd seen him since January 10, when we brought him home. Oh, Cooper!
Shiloh is a 2-year-old Collie owned by my friend, Kathy Bobnar. He is such a gentle boy, and he was the perfect dog for Cooper to walk with. Shiloh is not disturbed by anything. I think Cooper felt very safe with him. Shiloh was also a good example for Cooper to follow.
We walked on the horse trail at the Bedford Reservation, which is beautiful this time of year. We only passed one person on the trail. It was a man with two large dogs. He stopped to ask us if Shiloh was Cooper's mother. Ha, ha!
Many people think that Shetland Sheepdogs are small Collies. They look like brothers.
I am thrilled that this worked out well, and we plan to meet up again very soon!
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