Yuletide cheer

December 16, 2016

img_3639Our dog, Coco, hurt her paw the other day. It seems salt got in her left front paw and she sucked one of the pads raw, so we took her to the vet, and now she has to wear a cone and take antibiotics until her paw heals.
God knows why people dump such vast quantities of salt on the sidewalks of Toronto, but it’s catastrophic for dogs.
On weekday mornings the dog, our son and I leave the house and Coco and I walk him to College street, where we part company. Then he either walks to school or, if a streetcar is coming, hops on, and gets a ride to his high school, while Coco and I go for a run or a walk in the park up the street.
Yesterday Coco did not join us, on account of her hurt paw, and so she just stood by the door as we left in the morning, and looked sad.
The vet called last night to check up on her, and said that, sure, we could take her for a walk, as long as we wrapped up her paw to protect it.
So this morning I made a makeshift bootie for her paw and, I’ll admit, I did a terrible job. First I wrapped the paw in a plastic bag. Then I stuck one of my red Calvin Klein ankle socks over the bag and fastened the whole thing with an elastic band.
I thought at first that it was a perfect solution, and so we set out, attempting to steer clear of salty patches on the sidewalk.
When we arrived at College Street we pressed the pedestrian crosswalk button and a streetcar stopped to let us pass. The streetcar was headed west, the direction of Ecole Secondaire Toronto Ouest, my son’s school, and so he motioned to the driver to open the door, which the driver did, and so he hopped happily on board.
Coco and I finished crossing the street and were headed north when we heard the streetcar driver honking and honking. I ignored him, but then a young woman on the sidewalk pointed to something in the street.
My sock/bootie had fallen off the dog’s paw just as we crossed the street, and lay there in the slush, and the streetcar driver had noticed it.
I retrieved the sock and put it back on the dog’s foot.
Well, Merry Christmas, Toronto Transit Commission. Mostly I kvetch about the poor quality of our transit system, but in this case, that driver really came through. Things like that can restore your faith in humanity, even as you kneel in the slush and struggle with plastic bags and wet socks and elastic bands.