Poor Hurley

Since I have moved the Belle Grove Plantation, I don’t get to see Hurley, our golden retriever as much as I would like. As some of our older followers know, Hurley is a member of our plantation staff (we call him the “Official Plantation Dog”) and has been here many times.

Hurley started out as our son, Tyler’s dog so he is really attached to Tyler. Hurley is really a guy’s dog. He loves both Tyler and Brett and loves to be with them. When I brought him here in July for a week, it was really kind of sad. Hurley enjoyed being with me, but you could really tell he missed being at home with the boys. So with great sadness, I sent him back. I really do miss that dog!

So I now get to keep up with him through pictures and the occasional visit back to Chesapeake. Brett even puts him on the phone so he can pant in the receiver. Brett says Hurley smiles and pants when I talk to him on the speaker phone.

Yesterday, I got the news that Hurley wasn’t feeling too good. Tyler called Brett to let him know that he had noticed some swelling around one of Hurley’s eyes and the he seemed to be just not feeling good. Hurley is nine years old, but has always acted and looked like a much younger dog. His muzzle has started graying as all golden retrievers do, but he still doesn’t seem that old. He doesn’t get sick that often and even when he does, he still tries to keep up.

Tyler took Hurley to the vet yesterday, worried about the swelling around his eye. Turns out that Hurley has a tooth that has abscessed. The infection has backed up into his tissue around his eye. Brett is really good at watching Hurley’s health and one of the things he checks on all Hurley’s visits are his teeth. Last visit, they looked really good. So this just developed.

The course of action will be antibiotics for ten days. If it gets worse or doesn’t heal, they will have to put him to sleep and remove the tooth. This would be Hurley’s first operation or injury.

Brett sent me updated pictures of Hurley and I have to say he does look like he isn’t feeling all that great. I wish I could give him a big hug!

So we will watch and wait to see if it gets better. When it does, I know that I will be buying him one of his favorite chew bones to enjoy.

We will keep you up to date as we know.