I swear, every day BeeBee gets longer and sometimes it takes a heroic effort not to worry about what that means for both of us. When she’s standing still, anyone with a basic knowledge of physics would recognize that the span between her front and back legs is too great. Were she an bridge, a engineer would immediately shout, “For heaven’s sake, put a support in the middle before the whole thing collapses!” And, indeed, I’ve had fleeting thoughts of strapping a roller-skate to her mid-section as a preventive measure.
Realistically, though, that’s not an option, any more than stopping her from running, jumping, and playing with Frica is. Even if I could do it, I wouldn’t want to. But at one time I did hope that she’d be able to go up and down the stairs by herself. However, as she’s gotten longer I realize the likelihood of that happening isn’t that great. Even if she had normal coordination, her length would still make it a problem for her. Without that coordination, I’m torn between teaching her to stay away from the stairs completely, or continuing my current routine of practice on the top and bottom steps in hopes that eventually she figure out how to go fast enough that momentum will carry her safely up or down. If she were to stop in the middle, though, I don’t know how she’d get going again.
The other day Ann sent me a photo of a friend’s corgi pup of working/companion stock and I found myself lusting over his short squat body. If only I could give that to Bee! Who would have thought I’d be having such thoughts a year ago?
Bee’s length also made me think of the reception for new veterinary students at Ohio State more than 30 years. Then secretary of the college Walter Venzke said in his opening remarks that there were only two things that made him doubt the wisdom of God. One was the thoroughbred’s legs and the other was the dachshund’s back.
As I look at the extremes being bred into purebred animals, I don’t think it’s the wisdom of any Higher Power that’s in question. It’s human wisdom, or lack thereof, that’s the culprit.