When the dog bites, when the bee stings ...

I haven't looked at any challenges today. The morning was supposed to be spent at a church women's meeting, playing music and listening to a wonderful guest speaker. I had my Valentine-ish outfit all planned and was rarin' to go.

And then at 8:00 this morning we discovered that the dog was over the back fence in the vacant, but heavily wooded lot behind our house. This is a new talent of his, scaling the fence. In his defense I have to say that it's only a 4-footer, and the place he went over this morning was pretty decrepit.

I mentioned to the hubby that the dog had been outside for a while, and that it was unusual. He agreed and went to look for him, came back in and reached for his jeans. "Houston, we have a problem," were his exact words. I had to laugh when I looked out the back door and saw the pathetic thing looking back at me. "Mom? Help? I'm stuck???"

Hub grabbed the leash and went around the outside of our property, but couldn't coax him through the big, dense trees. I woke up the daughter thinking she could help. In hindsight you realize a lot of things. The first thing I realized was that I should have left her in bed. The second thing was something she realized well after the fact. "I should have hopped the fence myself and just led him to dad."

Instead, when we saw that there was a low spot on the fence we decided to call him and have him jump back over, the same way he got out. It almost worked. He got three out of four feet and legs over and then his right hind foot got caught on the chain link. He yelped like he was dying (and I know it had to hurt, he weighs 102 pounds and he was dangling by one foot) and struggled and she and I instinctively leaped in to help get him loose. He struggled some more, and in the fracas he panicked and turned on my daughter.

He bit her right hand and got her pretty good in several places. In the palm of her hand along the lifeline, the cut is about an inch long. On her middle finger (which she is thrilled to have wrapped up, btw *g*) there is a deep cut on the pad and also the cuticle area. The nail is split, too. That's what hurts the most. There are some smaller tooth marks on her thumb and the back of her hand.

Of course, we washed it immediately and as soon as I could get cleaned up and dressed, I took her right to the doctor. If I had gone to the ER we'd still be sitting there. I suspected he would give her a tetanus booster, but instead he cleaned the wounds and poked and prodded to make sure nothing was broken. We assured the doc that it was our dog and that he's fully vaccinated. I even offered him the vet's number if they needed proof.

Poor kid, she doesn't blame him at all, she knows it wasn't intentional, and he looked so guilty when it was all over with.  So she's on Augmentin for a week, has an antibiotic ointment to apply twice a day, and is at the movies with some friends. I checked in with her a little while ago and she says it's tender, but she's okay.

So. How was your day?

I love my vet!

We had an appointment for the Monster Dog™ at 4pm. We have to go after school so the daughter can hang onto him in the back seat or I'd never make it there in one piece.

First off, we got the expected reaction when we were dragged walked in. They couldn't believe it was the same dog they saw last spring. "Holy cow!" "Where's the puppy?" "Oh my god!" "Come look at this! Remember the little black shepherd mix?" (to one of the aides in the back.)

Then they asked, "What are you doing here? His shots aren't due until March."

I told them I knew that, but kept getting email notices about his other checkups - worms, etc. so I made the appointment. Plus, I was dying to know how much he weighs now. They convinced me to cancel the appointment so I wouldn't have to pay for an office call when I really didn't need one, and took my name off the email notices. I guess everyone else ignores them, so they were surprised to see me. *g*

They offered to weigh him while we were there as soon as the room was free, and then we got to see the vet.

"Holy cow!" (Here we go again, lol.) She talked to me off the record about his food and a couple of other things while we weighed him, and then also didn't charge me for an office visit.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

You ready for this? 102 pounds.


She said to go ahead and keep him on the large breed puppy food. He likes it, he's not fat, and it will work until he's 2.

Did I say I love my vet? ♥

Wordless Wednesday: "Patience"

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Happy Dusty-versary!

One year ago today we picked up a little 7 week old ball of fluff. Now? Take a look.

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The tender, touching tale ...

... of a dog and his garden hose.

Yes, that's our family room. Yes, he brought the hose inside. Because yanno ... you just never know when mom will forget to fill the water dish, or to leave the toilet lid up.

Do. not. want.

And I'm going to lay right here in the neighbor's yard looking like roadkill* until you take the farkin' thing off of me.



* Trust me, he's not in pain. And with him wearing his new Gentle Leader, I'm not either. We made it all the way to the end of the block and back and he only laid down twice. And look - no more nearly dislocated shoulder! This could well be the best $20 I ever spent.

I love him, but at 5 months old and 68 pounds, enough already with the pulling, lunging, etc. Watch the video in the link and you'll see what I mean.