Pets are OK for me

 Years ago I sponsored my veterinarian into AA.  He had been my client in a child custody hearing.  We became friends.  I took my dog to him even though his office was 45 minutes away.  At some point I realized something was off in his life and he was "sloppy" in the afternoon.   Drunk?   Couldn't tell over the phone.

But one afternoon, the front desk put me through and something was just wrong.  He could not form sentences, as if he were falling asleep at 5:30 pm.  I called back to the receptionist.  There was no answer.

I called 911.  A sheriff's deputy was dispatched from a nearby intersection. The deputy called me.  He could see a man slumped over a desk.  

It wasn't alcohol, although alcohol had become a problem.  The problem was his second divorce and that he was searching for NO MORE PAIN with Ketamine injections (FDA tranquilizer normally used for animal surgery).  

He kept his license and the clinic.  The Feds were more interested in fining him hundreds of thousands of dollars than incarcerating him on their dime.  And other than almost killing himself, he was just another nice guy going through a mean divorce proceeding. 

This was 15, maybe 20 years ago and since then I've poked him with the fact that Ketamine is now an FDA approved anti-depressant.   

But this is supposed to be about the dogs.   What the Special K injecting vet pointed out is that animals and especially dogs are emotionally stable. (Probably because dogs don't get divorced.)  Does not matter if you have been gone five hours, days or weeks, your dog is excited to see you.   People need this. Men really need this.  A man opens the front door and his world comes alive if someone is there to shakira her tail, jump on him and lick his face.

A dog knows one can't live with so much venom as found between couples of the same household where resentment weighs more than a concrete gravestone.