For me, it was coming to my friend’s house where I’m house-sitting, after an afternoon working out of my own house, and as I’m pushing my way through the throng of dogs eager to welcome me home, looking down and seeing blood and skin on the face of one dog, instead of fur.
Greyhounds have notoriously thin skin, easily damaged. Somehow, Princess has a 3-cornered tear on the side of her nose, directly in front of her eye. Stitching isn’t really an option, becasue of its location. I’m confident it was inflicted by another of the hounds, but no idea which one, so they’re all muzzled now. I know which 3 it was *not,* because they were in the basement all afternoon. They’re muzzled too, though, just in case.
Princess is in the kitchen with me – her own little isolation ward. She’s had antibiotics, and a peroxide cleansing of the wound (she didn’t really care for that), and lots of treats. This is one of Dee’s dogs, not one of mine (Dee is my dog-sitter extraordinaire), and is probably 14 years old, if she’s a day. I’ll leave her in here tonight, safely away from the other hounds, with a soft bed, and lots of towels on the floor in case nature calls.
In the morning, she’ll be dropped at our wonderful vet’s on my way to my house to work (wonderful vet had been closed for half an hour already when I finally got back to Dee’s house after battling rush-hour traffic). Telephone consultation with Dee (she’s in CA visiting relatives) determined that the e-vet would do nothing for us except accrue a horrendous bill. Dee has lots of experience with doing first-aid on dogs – combination of a lifetime of owning dogs, and running an adoption kennel for almost 20 years. Dee also told me not to feel bad – these things happen, and she’s always expecting to see blood when she comes home from being gone for awhile. In her opinion, it happens when the pups are all going crazy waiting for her to come in the house after they hear the garage door open. They get excited, and bump into each other, and sometimes they’ll hit teeth or claws in their bumping. I’m thinking this was caused by a bite, and I have my suspicions about which dog did it, but there’s no way of knowing for sure.
Princess seems to be more or less content, lying on her bed with her head on the cool floor, looking for a way to lie that’s comfortable without hitting that side of her face.
Me? I’m thinking a beer sounds really really good, but I have a personal philosophy about *not* drinking when I think I “need” a drink, or I’ve “earned” a drink. Too many alcoholics in my family. So I’m sucking down bottled water instead. I’ll save the Blue Moon for tomorrow night.