Bruce Keene - Memoirs of Doctor Dog

MEMOIRS
OF
DOCTOR DOG

OLD-FASHIONED TALES
FROM A VETERINARIAN

DR. BRUCE KEENE

Copyright 2020 by Bruce Keene

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HigherLife Publishing & Marketing

PO Box 623307

Oviedo, FL 32762

AHigherLife.com

Memoirs of Doctor Dog/ Dr. Bruce Keene -- 1st ed.

ISBN 978-1-951492-45-8 Paperback

ISBN 978-1-951492-46-5 eBook

Contents

Personally, I have always felt that the best doctor in the world is the Veterinarian. He cant ask his patients what is the matterhes just got to know.

WILL ROGERS

INTRODUCTION

MY ORIGINAL TARGET AUDIENCE for this book was other veterinarians, vet techs, and compassionate animal lovers. I began writing this book for the people that have told me they aspired to be a veterinarian and for all the young students that still do.

It should be read as entertainment as I share stories from my 55 years of practice as a veterinarian. I have seen the evolution of the profession of veterinary medicine from my work taking care of cows to dogs and how small practices work in contrast to corporate-specialty practices. I have also lived through the dissolution of the family farm, the changing educational landscape from men to women in vet school, and the end of the greyhound racing industry in the state of Florida. I believe that sharing these changes is of historical significance to my profession. My wife of 60 years, who is a PhD, has helped me to understand the relationship called the human-animal bond and the human-personality, both of which shaped the changes to my care as a veterinarian.

During the process of editing these memoirs, the editor mentioned that there were many sad stories. Three of these stories occurred during my early internship in Magnolia, Arkansas. One resulted from bad advice from another vet. The other experiences occurred during my 30 years at Lake Howell Animal Hospital.

The truth is that life is tragic, especially as a vet. Most of the stories in this collection are not sad, but rather serendipitous as they had great benefit to my career along with the gift of Gods grace. Throughout my journey as a vet, I have learned a lot about life and animals. Here are a few of those important insights:

I learned about the humane treatment of animals as it relates to euthanasia.

I learned to counsel clients in their grief in the loss of a family pet.

I learned how to answer the question, Do animals go to heaven?

I learned about the spirituality of the human-animal relationship.

I learned about my personal spirituality and my faith.

I dedicate this book with thanksgiving for my great mentors and the important things that life as a veterinarian has taught me about faith, love, and happiness. Enjoy!

PART I
LIFE LESSONS

MY FATHER CHANGED JOBS several times during my elementary school years finally settling down to work as an accountant for the state highway department. Each move created a lot of stress for me because I had to start over in a new school and create new friendships. During my junior and high school years, both of my parents worked hard at their jobs, but the last few years things changed toward an unhappy marriage. They had many fights, with my mother defending us against my fathers evening drinking, temper, and sometimes excessive punishment. I remember experiencing quite a bit of his belt discipline. They admitted they were just staying together for the kids sake. These experiences resulted in my becoming fearful of my father and looking forward to leaving home. For me, my fathers life philosophy seemed to be that success in life was measured by how smart a child was in math. Since my younger brother had more of Dads personality and was brighter in math, he seemed to have my fathers favor and blessing. On the other hand, I developed a phobia of math from his pressure. This resulted in my avoidance of any math related subject. Without encouragement, I had a low self-esteem and didnt think I was very smart. Ill never forget the crisis I had in the 9th grade. Following another family move and change of schools, I met two bullies. The first was a geometry teacher. He loved to call on the scared, nervous students, like myself to come to the front of the room and humiliate them by solving math problems on the black board. Of course, with my math phobia and low confidence at the time, I dreaded that class the most. To make matters worse, in that same class there was a class bully who was constantly trying to pick a fight with me. I really feared the schools disciplinary action and my fathers later punishment more than the fight. I remember having great anxiety each morning before school started. I appreciated a friend who would kindly walk with me around the school block to calm my nervousness for the day.

Another experience with a bully that added to my school insecurities at that time came in football. I have always liked sports and outdoor activities. As such, I decided to go out for the football team. Unfortunately, the coach was another intimidating bully. I had no previous experience playing football and he didnt have patience with me or time to teach me. Instead, when I missed my first blocking assignment, physically attacked me, cursing me, and knocking me to the ground. Since I had enough of that at home, I quit. To this day, I regret that I did not get a chance to play football.

However, I am thankful I joined the school track team and became our schools primary pole vaulter/ high jumper. This was an important step in giving me the boost I needed for my confidence. I continued to do well in vaulting throughout high school, being ranked in the top three in the state. This track success resulted in being esteemed by my classmates.

I also became a reporter for our school paper. I once wrote an article humorously pointing out the virtues of having big feet called, Shortys Sad Shoe Story as my feet are a size 13! I found this action of turning my embarrassment into a positive helped a lot.

I am the oldest son of four children. My siblings include a younger brother and a pair of twins a brother and a sister. As the oldest, I had to set the example for the other children.

In the early days of my boyhood, our family had some happy times. I remember with my parents dual income, they were able to build a new home, buy a new Buick car, and provide us with nice Christmas gifts. I was proud of our new home and overseeing finding a Christmas tree for us each year. I was my mothers handyman. One year, I even built a play dresser gift for my sister.

To my fathers credit, he did require my brother and me to work paper routes for two years to save for college. We believe that working on our paper routes helped teach us valuable skills that have helped us as entrepreneurs.

For example, on my 120-customer paper route, I had three distinct residential areas to cover. This route was on a very hilly part of Little Rock, Arkansas requiring a lot of mountain biking. In the first area, the homes were older, modest, working class, smaller homes. In the second area, the homes were new and built for the middle class. These were built with a hilltop view of the valley where we lived. The last area of homes were the large estate mansions built upon a mountain top along the skyline of the Arkansas River. I had to pedal my bike down long driveways to put the paper on these rich peoples porches. I looked forward to a nice Christmas gift for my effort. Sadly, I did not receive anything. Instead the customers that gave me food and gifts at Christmas were the working class in the first group of homes.