Our next story of our "Celebrating 50 Clients for our 50th Anniversary" series is about our dear clients Lu and Bill Bone. We first met Lu when she was a part of the Gentle Doctor team many years ago! We never let the good ones truly leave, and we love getting to see Lu and her family.

Tell us about your family – humans and pets!

My human family is me, Lu, my husband Bill, our two grown sons, Eric and Jesse, who are both getting married in 2015, and one very special granddaughter, Lily, who was born in October 2013, and another one on the way, due in April of 2015.

Our pet family is a Rhodesian ridgeback, Chimi, who is five years old and a yellow Lab, Deke, who is two years old.

Chimi

Deke

My son Eric and his fiancé Cory have a Rhodesian, Rodimus, a mini Aussie, Wicket, and a cat, Taylor. They also are clients of Gentle Doctor Animal Hospitals. Rodimus had successful knee surgery a few years back. She is probably going to need the other one done too!

Jesse and his fiancé Laura and their daughter Lily have a fourteen year old cat named Alsten.

What do the people in the family do for a living and for fun?

We own a business called AAA Dental Studio. I keep the books, and my husband and sons do the lab work, which involves making porcelain crowns and bridges. Sailing, ice hockey and golf are what the men are into, and I am enjoying being a grandma.

Tell us about when you first met the Gentle Doctor team or a story about the team others may not know.

I met up with Gentle Doctor in 1990 when I started working at Mapleview for Dr. Bob Bashara. Laura Drews was key in training me. She was so helpful! Pete would come in the summers to work while he was in school. I really enjoyed my time there.

I quit late in the 90’s to work at the riding stable my friend owned. I wanted to put my horse Chance into full training for dressage and was able to work off my board and training, and very much enjoyed that too! We had a great partnership until we both became too sore to continue. My friend still owns the barn, and I am able to go out and visit the horses.

Lu and Chance

Tell us more about the pets you have now and the pets you have had in the past.

My past pet family was a liver and white Dalmatian, Windy, whom I showed in obedience, the only dog I owned without  medical problems.

Windy and Spook the Cat

At the time I had Windy, I also adopted a four month old black Lab, Addy, who had hip dysplasia and went through a TPO surgery on each hip at Iowa State. They were both very successful, but she died of liver failure at the young age of seven.

Windy still needed a friend, so I got another black Lab puppy, Keyla. She also had hip dysplasia, but we were able to keep her comfortable on Deramaxx. She lived to be twelve and a half.

Keyla

About two years after I got Keyla, Mapleview called me. They took in a deaf Dalmatian, and since he was liver and white and five months old, they thought I might want him. Sure, why not? He was kind of a goofy dog, but Keyla trained him well. He even fetched a ball.

Now with Chimi, we have been dealing with stomach issues. She started vomiting at about two years of age. She has been through lots of tests, and at this point, she is on a special diet and a low dose of prednisone which is working pretty well.

Lastly, there is Deke, my first yellow Lab. Boy, is he a wild man! He was the wildest puppy I ever had! I almost took him back to the breeder, but of course I didn’t, and sure enough, a few months later, I noticed an unevenness in his front end and came to find out he has OCD, but his hips are good. We cannot get a break! He is doing well on supplements only and has no trouble playing ball. I guess we will see what happens down the road.

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