We have a grey beast that lives in our home. Piper is a Weimaraner and has been a part of our life for the better part of 11 years. She’s getting pretty old now and not quite up to all the antics that a young pup puts their owners through.
One of my favorite stories about her comes from the time we lived in Maryland. We had a townhouse that backed up to an 80-acre nature preserve. We’d often take her for walks down to the Little Patuxent River where she’d swim and play in the water. One of the easiest routes to this canine playground was down a repurposed railway. The train tracks had been removed and a hiking path was put in their place. On this occasion, we spent about half an hour throwing sticks in the river and watching her retrieve them before deciding it was time to make our way home. We had climbed back up the steep bank and got on the old ‘rail-trail’ for our return, when a bird caught our young pup’s attention. Quick as a flash she turned toward the river and shot off after it. We yelled for her to stop, but in her youthful exuberance, she ignored our calls. Coming to the end of the trail, her way onward was blocked by a small stand of bushes covered in honeysuckle. Like a gazelle, she gracefully bounded over them…and into thin air. You see, she had reached the riverbank, and more specifically the place that the railroad trestle used to be. I ran back down the path that led to the river, expecting to jump in and swim out to where my dog’s broken body lay on the rocks below. But when I got there, I saw a little grey head poking out of the water, and swimming around the bend, sneezing water out of her nose.
With a canine that’s this accident prone, it’s always important to have the number of a good Vet in your phone list. In moving back to Arkansas, we struggled with finding a place that fit our needs. Sure, the staff was knowledgeable, but it seemed you could never go and get something done without dropping more than $100, no matter how simple it was. I started to get the same feeling that I did when taking our car to Jiffy Lube. You go in for a simple procedure, like an oil change, but when you reach the other end, they’ve found all these problems that ‘need’ to be fixed. One of the last straws came when we spent thousands of dollars on some mysterious problem that they never identified or fixed.
You can imagine our excitement when we heard about Cornerstone Veterinary Clinic going in. We immediately made an appointment to have a lot of stuff done that we had been putting off (teeth cleaning, shots, nail clipping, etc.). Among other things, I found that their location is extremely convenient; I was able to drop her off before work and pick her up afterwards without having to drive all the way across town.
The entire staff was pleasant and friendly. Dr. Coston was extremely personable and did a good job with our old dog. He had taken before-and-after pictures to show me the extent of what they performed on her. The best surprise is when it came time to pay. I had expected to clear $400 on this one visit (we had a whole lot done), but it wasn’t even close to that. We took our vet bill home and compared it, procedure-for-procedure, to another vet bill we had from a previous facility. There was a stark difference in pricing.
Finally, we’ve found the vet we’ve been looking for! If you live in the South Sebastian County area of Arkansas and are looking for a vet, take your beast to Cornerstone Veterinary Clinic. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
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