Joey Robinson

It was time for Huli to go to the veterinarian for her vaccinations to keep her healthy.  She would also get another X-ray to see how the bone was healing.  Huli was brave to let people touch her painful leg.  This time, the doctor could see  some mending between the bones.  Keeping Huli in a smaller space with little activity had worked!  The food, rest, and medicine helped Huli get strong and helped her bone to heal.  The veterinarian felt that given time the bone would grow together even stronger, not straight but much stronger.  This would enable Huli to have a much more normal puppy and adult life.    

The interesting thing about Huli’s beginnings in the Anderson family is that Emma and Ted needed Huli too.  They had talked about getting a puppy because they now had a fenced back yard.  Ted said that Huli had found them.  Ted was willing to overcome the setbacks of a sick puppy also.  Emma had moved to a new house and community, had no friends and because of the Covid-19 pandemic did not go back to work right away, so she was lonely.  She also needed someone to take care of and to feel needed again, as she missed her work as a nurse.  Huli gave Emma purpose when she needed it.  It was also a time in Emma’s life when she had the time to devote to a sick puppy.   So it worked out perfectly.  Huli needed Emma and Ted so she could live, and Emma needed Huli to use her skills as a nurse and have a puppy to take care of.

A few months later Huli was happy.   Emma spent many happy years in Hawaii and loved the Hawaiian culture.  The name Huli in Hawaiian means “turn around” and Huli had definitely turned around her life.  She would lay on her bed under the window in the sunshine.  Her leg still hurt but she could walk and run with a limp and play with Iggie.  She could not remember “before.”  She had so much love because Emma and Ted were devoted to her, and she loved Emma and Ted, she loved her space, she loved Iggie, and she had a family.  

Huli was just a puppy but she knew she was lucky.

One day when Huli came into the house, to her surprise she saw the kitty in Ted’s office, which was part of Huli’s space.  Huli ran up happily to greet Boo, but Boo went crazy.  She hissed and growled and tried to swat her.  Huli just wanted to play, but Boo hated her.  Boo ran from the office; Huli thought this was a game and chased after her.  Emma did not like this and scolded her.  Huli did not want to share Emma.  Emma was hers.  She did not realize Boo had been with Emma for fourteen years.   She didn’t know Emma’s heart was big enough for Ted, Boo, and Huli.  Sometimes, Emma played with Huli.  At other times, Emma played with Boo.  

Boo is a big part of Emma’s and Ted’s life.  As an only pet, Boo thinks she’s the queen.  Emma found Boo under a car in the parking lot of her favorite Hawaiian grocery store while living in Hawaii.  Boo was undernourished and homeless, sad and hurt—the same as Huli.  Emma, who was single, living in a rented room, working as a waitress, and going to school, could not leave Boo to live on her own, so she brought her home.  Boo Kitty, as she was known, was very popular with friends and family because she was so lively and funny, and had an energetic personality.  

A young Boo had a two-story kitty playhouse with a cloth top.  If you put anything on the cloth top of Boo’s playhouse she would race across the room,  jump like a basketball player, hit the top of her house, and bounce off whatever was on there.  It was a game that Boo loved to play and her fans loved to watch.  When Emma left Hawaii, Boo came too.  Boo flew to Salt Lake City, then drove with Emma all the way across the United States to Florida where she lives with Emma and Ted today.  She is now fourteen years old, with the ailments that come with age, but still loves her Boo Kitty house, heating pads, and lying in the sun outside.  She purrs loudly and loves Emma and Ted. 

Huli, who is very young, is going to have to figure out how to get along with Boo, an older kitty who has been with Emma for so long.

Several weeks had gone by and it was time to walk outside. The veterinarian said Huli should walk twice a day for five minutes and increase by one minute of exercise every day.  Out came the harness for a walk down the street.  Huli could not figure this strange contraption out, and she fought with her good leg, with her mouth; she rolled on her back and wiggled around.  Huli had never worn a collar or anything.  Emma thought it was like putting a harness on a tyrannosaurus.  Finally, the harness was on and Huli was outside limping along next to Emma to the end of the street and back.  She was always happy to go back in the house and to her safe space and Iggie.  She would lay down on her soft pillows exhausted by the walk.

Twice a day, Huli would walk with Emma and every day the time outside increased. She started to get stronger.  When they got back to the house, Huli got a treat.  This was the best part of the walk.

Huli would also go outside in the backyard for a few minutes every day but just waited with her head on her paws to go back inside.  She wasn’t interested in anything outside yet.  Some days Emma sat outside with Huli for a little while. 

After a couple of weeks of daily limps down the street and daily outside time, Huli thought being outside felt less scary.  She still liked it better when someone was outside with her.  Emma was there every day to talk to Huli and give her food and water.  Her skin, headaches, and stomach were completely healed.  Her leg still hurt but she was beginning to figure out how to walk and run a little without too much pain.

After two months of daily walks, time at the park and time outside in the backyard, Huli was feeling much better.  Then, it happened!  Emma let Huli out in the backyard and Iggie came too.  Huli threw Iggie up in the air and ran—crazy happy with Iggie—back and forth to Emma.  Her leg hurt but she was so happy to be outside with Iggie and Emma.  After a couple of minutes of this, Huli lay down with Iggie, chewed Iggie a little and looked at her backyard.  She didn’t feel afraid of her backyard anymore.  Emma and Iggie stayed outside with her for a while before Huli went back to her space, her bed and her house.  Iggie continued to go outside with Huli, and now she also had a ball.  She could not chase the ball yet because she had to limit her movement with the broken leg but she could chew it.

Soon Huli felt good enough to look around her space.  What was that?  Huli saw a kitty.  Emma, who Huli knew was very special, was feeding the kitty.  Boo, the kitty, appeared to hate Huli and hissed at her.  Huli was not afraid, because she was inside and protected in her space.  She was, however, interested in the kitty and kept a keen eye on her.  In Huli’s space, the gates that kept her from moving around too much so her broken leg had a chance to heal, also kept her from being able to have fun with Boo.  

Huli had been in this space for over a week now and was feeling stronger; she could limp around when she was taken outside, but she still did not like being outside.  She did like Iggie and being around people.  She noticed every night, another friendly face, Ted, came home.  Ted would pat and sit with Huli.  

Huli had been to the veterinarian four times in the last two weeks.  Emma was giving pills to her several times a day and the bad sore on her stomach was improving.   She was also going for many rides on a soft bed in the car with Emma.  Emma, Ted, and the veterinarian talked about Huli’s broken leg bone.  Would it grow together well enough since it wasn’t set right after it was broken and it was not straight?   Should the doctor amputate the leg?  Everyone knew this leg would be an ongoing, nagging pain for Huli–maybe for the rest of her life–but they also knew that amputation has a lot of challenges also.  They decided to wait and see.  Huli would have time to get better, grow and try to heal the bone.

To Huli’s surprise she was not put outside again. She spent the night inside in a hard crate, but it was nice to be inside.  When Huli woke up the next day, the friendly, beautiful face was back.  Emma, as Huli would find out, was the friendly face who was taking her home.  Huli was riding in a car again.  When they came to a large house on a tree-lined street, Huli was brought inside.  Everything still hurt and she was still so sad.  More food and water, and this time a really comfortable bed in a crate.  Because she hurt everywhere, it was nice to have a soft bed, and she fell asleep again.  What Huli didn’t know was the medicine would get rid of the hookworms and her stomach was going to feel better soon.  The special food was for a starving puppy and that would help her stomach pain, too.  The bath was with special soap to get rid of fleas and ticks so her skin felt better.  She was given special medicine that fights infections for sores on her stomach.  She continued to sleep, which is just what a sick puppy needs.  Every few hours, this now-familiar person, Emma, woke her up and carried her outside to do her business.  Huli hated being outside.  It was still too scary for her but Emma stayed close by and brought her right back inside to her very soft bed.  Huli was so weak she couldn’t be happy, or play or even bark.   

Huli was given medicine several times a day so she would sleep and gain enough strength to limp around. She was also given a toy: Iggie, a soft, green iguana, to sleep with, chew, and keep her company.  She was given two more special baths, and although she did not like baths, she was too weak to fight them.  Now, instead of a brown, dirty dog, Huli had become a black and white spotted puppy that the veterinarian said would weigh around 50 pounds when full grown.  After four days of medicine and sleeping, she woke up and found she was feeling much better.  Her head, skin, and stomach didn’t hurt as much.  Her leg hurt a lot but the comfortable bed sure helped.  Emma talked to Huli in a soothing voice and laid down with her so she was less anxious but still very sad.  

Huli was just a puppy, but she knew something was terribly wrong with her.  Huli’s head hurt, her stomach hurt, her skin hurt, but her leg hurt most of all. 

She lived all alone in the park.  She was filthy, sad, hungry, and weak, lying with her eyes closed. Suddenly she heard a noise and felt someone close to her.  Huli opened her eyes to see a friendly and concerned face, so she slowly wagged her tail the best she could.

The friendly face was close to her so Huli did her best to stand and look presentable, hoping for food. But she was too weak and sick to stand very long. and soon she plopped back down.

This beautiful, friendly face stayed with Huli until she fell asleep again.  When she woke up,  the person was putting her in a car.  She was glad to be out of the park, but it hurt so much to be bumped and jostled around.  She tried to get comfortable, but the movement of the car, the feel of the seat and the strangeness of it all were too much.  She just closed her eyes and endured the pain.

The friendly face took Huli to a kindly veterinarian who helped puppies like her.  She was given water and special food.  Even though it hurt her stomach, she was glad to have it.  Someone gentle gave her a bath, some pills, and an x-ray to find out what was wrong.  She tried to think about her mother and the good times “before” but the memory of “before” was fading.  The doctor said her sore leg had been badly broken around five weeks before.  Huli was only five months old, so that leg had hurt a lot for most of her young life.