Harold Visits The Vet (Bedtime Story)

Just as we're all set for a snowy adventure, Harold’s sudden limp sends us on a different trip—to the vet, where his unexplained paw pain leads to a surprising diagnosis. Turns out, Harold isn’t injured—he’s just missing us too much! But his joyous leap at the news that he’s coming with us results in a real sprain, proving that sometimes, love hurts… literally! - Love, Mrs. Honeybee

Transcript

Bedtime with Mrs.

Honeybee.

Today,

In the Honeybee neighborhood,

We'll be taking my dog Harold to the vet.

How's your paw,

Little guy?

Aww,

It looks like it's still bothering him.

I think I've got the solution for now.

Harold's favorite treats.

He loves those.

Here,

I'll give him one now.

Oh,

Harold.

Come here,

Boy.

Look what I've got.

All you have to do is close your eyes,

Get cozy,

And listen to the sound of my voice.

Mrs.

Honeybee will be your guide.

Let's begin.

You are here in the Honeybee neighborhood,

Walking around the corner to our driveway.

It's cloudy and cool out today,

The perfect day to leave on our annual ski trip.

The clouds will bring a blanket of fresh snow to the mountains,

And we will enjoy ourselves skiing,

Snowboarding,

And sledding down them.

And just think of all the snow people we can build.

A smile comes across your face,

Thinking about all the fun we'll have as you walk up to the brightly colored front door.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel the coolness of the chilly air coming in through your nose and rounding out your chest.

Then,

Slowly,

Breathe all the way out through your mouth and knock on the door.

You can hear Harold's distant bark from inside the house like usual,

But you don't hear him running up to the door to greet you.

Instead,

Mr.

Honeybee opens the door wearing a worried look.

Hello,

My little Honeybee.

I wish I had better news for you.

Come on in.

Mr.

Honeybee leads you into the living room,

Where me and Melody Bee are sitting with Harold on the couch.

He's whimpering with his head hanging low.

When he sees you,

He is suddenly full of excitement that his little body can't hold,

And he jumps down from the couch with a yelp.

Oh no,

Harold.

You have to be careful with your paw.

I'll go get him some ice for his paw,

And some for him to crunch.

He loves eating ice and snow.

Hopefully that'll make you feel better,

Harold.

You join me and Harold on the couch while Melody Bee and Mr.

Honeybee get an ice pack and an icy snow cone started for him.

He lays beside you,

Curling his paw under his body like it hurts him tremendously.

You sit beside him,

Stroking the top of his head and his floppy ears that don't have the same perk in them today.

Here you go,

Boy.

Here's some ice for your paw.

And some ice to munch on.

My little Honeybee,

I'm so glad you're here.

Harold is,

Too.

Something is very wrong with him.

We got up to leave on our ski trip and were packing up his stuff for doggie daycare,

And all of a sudden he started limping on his front paw.

Then he couldn't put any pressure on it.

Now he won't let us even touch it.

I'm afraid we'll have to take him to the V.

E.

T.

Instead of going on our trip,

Harold needs us.

Without hesitation,

We all decide to postpone the ski trip until we know for sure that Harold is all right.

His ears suddenly perk up again,

But this time with concern because he heard the word V.

E.

T.

We don't like to say it in front of him,

But he's even learned how to spell it now.

Suddenly,

Harold takes off again,

Then yelps and continues to limp up the stairs,

Flinging his carrier,

Which he knows only takes him to the V.

E.

T.

In the car.

We have to coax him out with treats and more treats,

But he finally lets us put him in his carrier and load him into the car.

We have no choice but to see what the V.

E.

T.

Says.

Driving to the V.

E.

T.

's office,

You sit next to Harold in his carrier.

Sometimes he loves to sit on your lap and look out the window with you,

But when you look into the top of his carrier,

He seems to be in too much pain to take him out.

You decide to let him rest,

But roll down the window a little so he can at least feel the cool breeze.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel the sensation of your heart beating once,

Twice,

Three times.

Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and send all of your love to Harold.

We're here,

Harold.

You should be feeling better in no time.

We rush inside the V.

E.

T.

's office and into the first available room.

A veterinary nurse is waiting in the open doorway,

Waving to us with a hopeful smile.

He welcomes us into the exam room and you lift up Harold's carrier to put him on the metal table.

Under the fluorescent lights,

Everything seems harsh,

But the nurse understands this and turns off the bright lights and opens the long,

Vertical blinds for a softer light.

The kind V.

E.

T.

Nurse holds his hand out for Harold to smell.

He sniffs it and looks to you to see if he should trust this new person.

You nod him the okay and he wags his tail against the sides of his carrier before walking out onto the table.

Good boy,

Harold.

Can you lift up your paw so the nurse can see it?

The V.

E.

T.

Nurse is very gentle,

As he examines what he can see of Harold's paw.

He scans it for injuries,

Administers a couple reflex tests,

And does a thorough examination of Harold's heart,

Ears,

And snout.

From what he can see,

Everything looks great.

The nurse doesn't see any signs of broken bones,

Fractures,

Or sprains.

There's no indication of pain when he touches any part of Harold's paws.

And there isn't anything stuck in his paw,

Like a small rock or a stinger.

The V.

E.

T.

Looks at Melody B.

Once,

Then again,

As to ask if she accidentally stung him.

I would never!

No,

No,

I was out in the garden when this all started.

Tell them,

Mrs.

Honeybee.

Melody B.

Was outside prepping the irrigation system to run automatically while we were on our ski trip.

All of a sudden,

Harold just started limping.

The V.

E.

T.

Nurse sees exactly what we describe when he tries to put Harold down.

Suddenly,

Harold limps again and yelps and winces in pain.

Concerned,

The nurse asks to take him back to see the V.

E.

T.

For more tests.

We,

Of course,

Agree to do whatever is necessary for our furry friend.

With a kiss to the snout,

You say goodbye to Harold for now as the nurse takes him back.

His big,

Worried eyes are the last thing we see before the door shuts behind them.

Oh my,

What do you think it could be?

I wish I knew.

Ugh,

I hope our Harold is okay.

I wish we could be with him for his tests.

After waiting for what feels like forever,

The door opens.

Through it walks a smiling V.

E.

T.

Wearing a white coat and a stethoscope around her neck.

We don't see any sign of Harold,

But she's smiling,

So we're hopeful that she has good news.

We wait anxiously as she sits down with us.

Instead of talking about Harold's condition or his paw,

The first thing she asks is if we were planning to leave on a ski trip today.

Yes,

We were all packed up to leave.

Harold usually goes to doggy daycare when we go,

So he was all packed up too,

But we can't send him there like this.

Wait,

Does our ski trip have something to do with Harold's paw?

The V.

E.

T.

Laughs and continues that she did a battery of tests,

Everything she could possibly think of for a paw injury.

An X-ray confirmed there's no broken bones or fractures.

All other tests confirm that Harold is one healthy,

Well-loved pup.

But.

.

.

But what?

But what?

The V.

E.

T.

Thinks for a moment,

Figuring out how to best tell us what is actually wrong with Harold.

You are trying to keep a positive outlook,

Especially considering all the good news you heard from the V.

E.

T.

But what could possibly be wrong with Harold if nothing seems to be wrong with Harold?

Is there anything we can do to help him?

The V.

E.

T.

Calms us down with another reassuring smile.

She says that physically,

Harold is just fine.

Absolutely nothing wrong with him.

He's good to go to doggy daycare today,

But.

.

.

But what?

Doc,

That's a good thing,

Right?

What could possibly be the but?

That's when the kind V.

E.

T.

Explains that Harold is fine physically,

But feels crummy emotionally.

While she was administering test after test on Harold,

He would not stop talking about how much he misses all four of you while you're gone.

He does love doggy daycare,

But he misses us so much that he can't bring himself to enjoy it fully.

There's nothing wrong with his paw,

But he knows how much we love him and that we'd cancel our ski trip in an instant if he wasn't feeling well.

And that's exactly what we did.

Wow.

I didn't even think of it from his perspective.

Did you,

My dear?

I didn't either.

I always assumed he loved doggy daycare.

He does love it.

He comes back so happy to tell us about all the activities and new dogs he meets.

One time he met a llama.

I guess he just loves us more than even the coolest doggy daycares.

We talk with the vet a little longer,

And she tells us that she sees us a lot.

Dogs miss their humans so much when they leave that sometimes they take extreme measures to make their emotional pain more legible.

Legible?

Legible,

Melody B.

Able to be understood by others.

Oh,

Got it.

That was helpful for me too.

As we've seen here today,

Even slightly older dogs can learn new tricks.

Harold didn't trick us on purpose,

But that was the only way he knew how to tell us what he really felt and that we can appreciate.

We talk amongst ourselves for a bit and come to the conclusion that of course we can take Harold on our ski trips with us from now on.

We always assumed he loved doggy daycare like his own sort of vacation,

But now we know the truth about how Harold feels.

We tell the vet that Harold can always tell us exactly how he feels,

Even if it comes out wrong at first or sounds funny.

The vet's smile gets even bigger and she calls back to Harold who is listening on the other side of the door.

Did you hear that,

Harold?

You can come with us.

Of course he can,

Buddy.

We'd love for you to come with us.

Without hesitation,

Harold bursts through the door and leaps up onto the slick metal table.

Not judging the height of the table correctly,

He crashes right into it and falls down to the hard tile floor.

He whimpers in pain just like he did before.

Luckily,

The vet saw the whole thing.

She scoops him up for more tests in the exam room in the back.

We wait anxiously before she once again returns,

But this time with Harold bandaged up in her arms.

Oh no,

Did he really hurt himself?

Turns out the happy jump Harold attempted cost him a sprained paw.

He will have to stay off of it for a few weeks and will need plenty of rest to heal up.

We leave the vet's office with specific instructions to love on Harold as much as we can,

But the ski trip is effectively postponed until Harold can enjoy the snow with us.

Always remember,

Mrs.

Honeybee believes in you.

You are special and you are loved.

I can't wait to see you again.

Reviews

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️omg Love it keep it up and just so you know you are the best person I have ever listened to a story from and I just love you so so very so so very much thank you for all you do and thank you for everything that you’ve done and for being the best and for being there when I needed you most 🥰💖OH and before this ends MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄🎁

It was amazing and so good. I loved it so much. 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🥸🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Soooooooo gooooooooddddddd poor Harold he was pretending that it hurt then it actually hurt 😞 hope he feels better soon 🔜 ❤️

From Mia

Heyo!
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My dog is 15 weeks old and she is very smart. Her name is Pixie and she is a black Cavoodle. Silly Harold. Amazing by the way!

So good but did hauled actually get hurt it in real life if so I wish him the best