every dog has it's day

Although you might think the opposite once I'm finished telling you what happened. This last Sunday the weather was perfect for a bike ride or taking the pups to the dog park. I chose the dog park since the girls had been couped up for the last few weeks with everyone having varying stages of the flu. That turned out to be a mistake. Instead I should've just leashed them up and gone for a nice walk on the lakeside with them. That would've been the smart and easier thing to do, but instead I thought taking them to the dog park would be much more fun for them. Well it was, up to a point.

Bridgette wound up getting into a fight and bit another dog. Unfortunately for me, my back was turned while I was petting another dog and didn't see what took place. Fortunately for me, several witnesses came forward to report that she did not start the fight and reacted in self defense. However the other dog was the one that got bit while B came out of it unscathed. The owner of bit dog asked me for my info and I provided it. One of the witnesses was fairly vocal about what he believed the other owner was attempting to do (sue me and/or have my dog put down), but I managed to calm him and the owner down. I told him get his dog to the vet and get the wound looked after and we could discuss how to handle this. He did and we later agreed to a no fault both parties pay half the vet bills to resolve this. Four days & $250 in vet bills later, his pooch is on the road to recovery. His dog had a puncture on his cheek which didn't go all the way through in the beginning. Things took a bad turn when the wound healed up faster on the outside creating a pocket with no way to drain. The wound filled up and his cheek was starting to swell. To make thing even more complicated his dog suffers from seizures and won't let you touch him when he's hurt so he has to be sedated in order to be treated. The little guy also bit open the wound from inside his mouth, hence why a little minor surgery was required. After cleaning it all up a tube was put in to allow the wound to drain properly. He was sent home yesterday with lots of really great drugs, soft food, and wore the cone of shame. Now that everything is set right, it's just a matter of time for him to heal. How is the other owner? He's a wreck as any good pet parent would be. I'm a little calmer about it having gone through what he did with Bridgette once before. She was attacked about five years ago and received not only a puncture in her neck, but her ear was slightly torn. She recovered fine and you can't even tell where she was ever injured. Back to the other dog. Some good things came out of this. The cost (although high for someone currently unemployed) was more than reasonable given how expensive things are these days. I also added his vet to my list for emergencies. I'm grateful the other owner is a reasonable human being who understood that this kind of thing can happen. Most importantly, he was willing to work things out in a fair way. I got to know him and he's very good people. He's in the same place as I am, just further along on starting his new career.

The day his dog was being treated was also the day we were getting Oreo's teeth cleaned. We had a feeling it was gonna be bad since she'd never been in for one before. When the call came the vet said Oreo's had gingivitis and three molars with exposed roots needed to be pulled. This was in addition to the one loose tooth we already knew about. She also had 4x the normal amount of ALT in her blood which I can only assume was worse before I switched to a premium brand food and put her on a diet. By the way, she reached her target weight of 20 pounds last month and looks great. We gave the go ahead and went back to worrying/waiting again. During the op the vet found three more loose teeth making it seven in total that were pulled. This vet did a fantastic job in that she mitigated the pain and anesthesia meds used to go easy on our old girl's liver. She even gave Oreo a free dose of morphine for the road. She was the best dog ever on the ride home. Normally she runs from side to side and looks out the window or winds up pawing at the button to opens it; this time she just laid there and groaned a little. We were sent home with 5 days worth of rimadyl and a prescription to buy some Sam E and Milk Thistle to help her liver heal itself. I can tell she's still in quite a bit of pain; it's gonna be a rough week for the poor girl. Even B is helping to look after her. Earlier I caught them laying next to each other but missed catching it on camera.

Despite how bad this whole experience might seem; all parties are on the road recovery. I even made a few new friends along the way. I've also made the decision to never visit a dog park again. The risk is simply too much and not worth it. Walks around the lakeside and later the desert are the way to go.