Judge's Aftermath

If you have been reading my blog off and on for the last few months then you would probably understand that even now -- months and months and months after Hurricane Katrina actually made landfall -- we are still finding damage. Some of it we had simply overlooked until now... Other things have only now begun to show the toll the hurricane took on them...

Take our dog, for instance.

Picture taken August 27, 2005

Judge was just a puppy then. A fuzzy, obnoxious puppy with big paws and an even bigger mouth. He was pampered and primped and preened and subjected to daily photo sessions (which he didn't seem to mind, actually). He spent the morning of the storm upstairs with the rest of us. I think he barked non-stop for six hours.

Judge surveys the damage the morning after Katrina.

We were all pretty grubby in the aftermath. A few days of nasty sludge water and intense heat and no hot showers will do that... Judge looked and smelled as bad as the rest of us. Even if I had had the clarity of mind to actually groom the poor thing -- all of his combs and brushes had flooded... Then after a few weeks, he started losing his puppy coat -- a huge matted mess that was impossible to keep neat without a good comb... In its place he began to grow long luxurious fur... And lots of it... Six to seven inches long in places.

By the time I was able to buy a brush and comb for him - the mats had taken hold in several places. They were too close to the skin for me to comfortably remove on my own -- besides, he wouldn't let me.

In late October his veterinarian reopened his office and we took him for his regular checkup. I was all set to make a grooming appointment -- but we were informed that the groomer would not be able to start working again until around January.

Judge and his fur.

The earliest grooming appointment we were able to make was for yesterday, April 10th. And well.. with his fur matted so close to the skin.. and summer on its way anyway... they decided it would be best to do something dramatic.

Furless Judge.

Okay so he looks ridiculous, but it makes us sad too. I know he's the same Judge... and at least he's alive... and his fur will grow back. Like everything else -- the trees, the flowers, the houses, the buildings, everything we ever knew -- he'll return to normal again someday (or as normal as Judge can possibly get, at least). In the meantime... I find myself hugging him a little more than usual.

I keep looking at him and thinking Gee, Judge, you look exactly how I feel.