I Tell You, You've Got To Watch My Dog Every Second!

Pekoe's papers say he's pedigree, but I swear sometimes...

It was time for Pekoe the Dog to get his toes clipped last week. There was another owner and dog, a female white lab incidentally, directly in front of us as we were going into the vet's office. Pekoe was too busy sniffing up this chick, that he didn't get the tip of his tail out of the way of the door. The very tip of his tail was cut! Blood everywhere. They rushed him into dog surgery. Pain killers, antibiotics, stitches, bandages, a crazy, way out, plastic tail-tube, and $500 later, Pekoe is on his way home.

Days pass and he's healing up okay. Once and a while he gnaws at the tube, but everything okay. I take him back in Wednesday, the vet, some woman with hair for days, says he doing fine. If everything stays that way, she says, the bandages and stitches should come out sometime during the 1st and the 5th of December.

Thanksgiving, I noticed that Bullethead, one of the many names I call him, has cracked the plastic tube around his tail. No bleeding, no worries. Grab a roll of duct tape and fix the crack, leaving plenty of air for the tail to breathe and heal.

This afternoon I noticed that Pekoe has been gnawing at the duct tape. Again, I take note and got back to the computer. While I was eating lunch he was at my feet...as usual. I was not paying attention and didn't notice him slip away after I had finished eating. When I got up from the computer to look outside, I happened to look over at Pekoe's bed. I noticed some kind of trash at the foot of his bed. I walked over to see what the trash was and to pick it up. I was horrified to see that it was the remains of duct tape and the plastic tubing!

I plan to cover cursing on another blog post. As such I won't get into what I screamed and shouted. I immediately noticed that his bed was wet. I was scared that it was blood! On closer inspection, I saw it was just saliva. But where was all the bandaging? The dumb dog ate it of course. I immediately knew I'd be cleaning up a vomit and bandage at 4:00 am.

His vet was closed but a friend called the 24hour vet in Rockville. More on them too at another time. They said if the tail wasn't bleeding, I had two choices. First, I could gauze the tail up myself, or second, I could leave it alone. The antibiotics should protect against infection. The key is to keep Muttley from licking the wound. Easier said than done.

It's almost 5:00 pm. Time for me to feed him. I have a friend that's having a little get together this evening, so I guess won't be going. Damn shame too, because I bet their won't be jack on TV...

So why do I bother? Part of it is that I love the dog. The other part of it is that it's not like he can take care of a wound himself. Taking care of a wounded animal is just the right thing to do. Another thing is that I don't know if Pekoe is my best friend, considering all goodies of mine he's eaten and clothes of mine he's ruined, but he certainly is a good friend. Pekoe has been with me through thick and thin, and now that's he's in trouble, I won't leave him hanging.

Hmmmm....I wonder is this loyalty?