A little while ago I figured out how to write a post about our older dog, Stella. And I promised that I would write about Hoshi, our younger dog, who turns two in June. (His sign? Gemini, of course!) Hoshi is a classic younger sibling: crazy, cute, wild, and wonderful. Make no mistake: Stella is the beloved girl in my home. But Hoshi has found his own place in the family. Like Stella, Hoshi is definitely a Shiba Inu, but unlike many dogs of that breed, he’s more than a little silly, and mostly just a crazy guy.

And, Hoshi has been given death sentence. (!!) A couple weeks after we brought him home, our vet told us that he has a serious heart murmur, and with a very serious look on her face, she recommended that Hoshi be examined by a canine cardiologist. The ultrasound confirmed her fears: Hoshi has valvular and sub-valvular aortic stenosis. In English, he has a valve in his heart that is too narrow, too constricted, and the space below it is also too tight. He’s not supposed to live beyond the age of four.

Poor guy!!

When I heard this, I did what any sensible human being would do. I left my office (I got the call at work), locked myself in the bathroom, and wept like a baby. He’s our guy! It took all of, oh, five seconds or so for Hoshi to bond with the whole household, Stella included, so when we got this news, it was devastating.

And this is the moment when I found out how valuable it is to have a good veterinarian. (Here’s the link, if you live in Seattle and are shopping for one!) Dr. Weihl was great. She talked about surgery, but didn’t push it (it’s highly risky, might not work, and would severely traumatize Hoshi.) So, surgery was not a good option. How about keeping Hoshi really calm all the time? Would that help? Dr. Weihl said, “Here’s what I think. It’s party time. Hoshi doesn’t have any idea he’s got this problem. As far as he’s concerned, there is no problem!” She said we should just enjoy him for as long as we have him, and not worry about it. Besides, Hoshi is a major spaz, so it’s not as if it would be easy to keep him calm with the goal of minimizing stress on his heart. And if we somehow managed to do that, he wouldn’t be living a dog’s life. He wouldn’t be Hoshi. So we took her advice.

And here’s why Hoshi is worthy of a blog post: this little guy, heart problem and all, has really brought home a good lesson. So often in life, human beings want things to be perfect. They want things to make sense. Cute little dogs shouldn’t have heart problems. Happy families shouldn’t be challenged by terrible “death sentences.” But here’s the thing: it’s not a death sentence! Remember: Hoshi’s a dog. And dogs are experts at living in the moment. Right here, right now—Now is the Moment in the life of a dog. It’s something dogs are great at teaching us linear-thinking humans. Dogs fully experience the Now. They fully enjoy everything that they’re receiving, right now, right this second. Tomorrow? It doesn’t exist. Or if it does, well, it will take care of itself.

Stella, despite her substantial ego, is also a dog. And that means she too lives in the moment, and exemplifies that lifestyle. But Hoshi, our little guy, he is even more poignantly a present-day, present-moment creature. Yes, he has a heart defect. And that means he could be gone tomorrow. But it also means he’s even better at teaching humans the life lesson dogs know so well.

(And be sure you have treats on hand for your dog. Like Hoshi, I’m sure your dog is hungry. Or at least he wants me to think that!)

Hoshi (left) and Stella.

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Fun on Fridays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.