From the time they were just months-old, to the present, our two Poodle siblings have browsed. Everywhere, everything. Nothing appears to them indigestible or uninteresting. From the needles of the spruces in the backyard, to twigs and green foliage, from eggshells to apples fallen in the fall, those little opportunists are incessantly on the prowl to munch. We thought this would pass, that they would eventually fall out with their browsing habit, but nothing could be further from fact.

Last fall Jackie had to be admitted to hospital. He'd eaten part of an apple in the ravine that had fungal growth of dangerous mould on it, and the result was his central neural system was impacted and he was in serious trouble. Treatment at the emergency animal hospital succeeded, and a day later we were able to bring him home. We've become regulars at that veterinary hospital, some distance from home, in contrast to the veterinary services situated much closer to us keeping regular hours. And it's always Jackie, never Jillie. She seems indestructible.

Jackie is more delicate than his sister. Jillie is a bit pudgy, and although he eats more than she does of their regular kibble he never puts weight on, thanks to his more efficient metabolism; he is always on the move whereas she knows when to relax -- at every opportunity when they're not playing together frantically and engaging in their usual antics.

But last week it was Jillie who became ill; although she didn't refuse her meals, she developed a serious case of diarrhea. Jackie seemed fine, quite an unusual turnabout. We gave Jillie rice and cooked ground beef, and sprinkled Forti Flora over, to help re-establish her gut microbia. She still hasn't quite returned to normal, though the diarrhea period, thankfully,  is over.

Jackie, on the other hand, a few days ago, suddenly refused breakfast (which wasn't unusual for him though when he's hungry he is ravenous) and then dinner (which is unusual). And then he began exhibiting other symptoms, the most alarming of which was involuntary evacuation of an substance that was pink and gelatinous, after he had thrown up mostly water. We set our dinner aside and rushed to the emergency hospital with him.

And he kept evacuating this pink gelatinous substance continually. The veterinarian who examined him asked if he had been exposed to a rotting carcase. He hadn't, but he had picked up some pathogen somewhere. Because we had become quite concerned about their browsing, and additionally concerned since both of them became coprophagic as well, we stopped letting them off leash in the ravine, to maintain better control over their browsing, about a month earlier.

Now that Jackie's awful symptoms have been dealt with, we will no longer even use the retractable leashes, but only the short, fixed leashes, so we can control even more consistently and immediately what they are doing. This is far from how we imagine they would like to disport themselves in a natural setting, but for now, it's the only solution we can see to the problem, apart from putting muzzles on them, and since they chafe even at the use of halters, and their collars with the dangling I.D.s drive them to distraction, that would complicate their lives and ours even more.

It did take us by surprise when we drove to the hospital yesterday evening to pick Jackie up 24 hours after we'd left him there the evening before, to watch Jillie's overjoyed excitement at being reunited with Jackie. In his absence it hardly seemed she missed him at all, although we certainly did. It's hard to get used to the quiet that prevails in the house, in his absence.

Other than those vexing problems? It's a lovely day. And we had a normal walk in the ravine, albeit by keeping them short on the leash.