As a tradesman, myself, the thought of debilitating injury is always present. There, of course, is always that fear that something will happen, at work, and I won't be able to work anymore.
I can attest that, as I have not been in as bad of a situation as he, I have been in pretty dire straights when work did dry up. The economy was really bad, and people weren't building anymore. I can relate to wanting to care for your dog better than yourself. As far as my dog, and my daughter knew, we never had bad times.