The final night of the puppy siege is done. All survived with no injury. If only the pups had kept up their first night initiative to sleep on separate chairs...
Regardless, we now arrive at Sunday morning and are excited that my father is returning today to take over the bed-sharing with two of the dogs.
As the moment, the pups are all resting after having been outside, fed and Dingo'd. All is right with the world. I must now get myself clean and presentable so I may go out and get my delayed pedicure. A home improvement emergency led my friend to request a rain check on our outing, and since I am nothing if not flexible, I agreed.
Turns out it was probably a good thing that it worked out this way because we had a bit of an emergency of our own here yesterday around the time I was to leave.
Now that the weather has turned glorious and cool, no one minds being outside, especially the dogs in this household. Yesterday around noon, I turned two eager pups outside for a romp and bathroom break while I retreated downstairs. No sooner had I picked up a pillow when I heard a strange squeal come from a distance.
At this point several thoughts raced through my mind. I was well aware of the hunting capabilities of the terriers and I also knew that sometimes small animals such as rabbits and squirrels can "scream" when they are dying or in distress.
Prepared for the worst in the form of bloody carnage, I raced back outside to witness Thor, the boy, huddling down next to the strawberry patch and emitting a pitiful and piercing whine of pain. Lena, the ever valiant, was leaping through the air in an attempt to bite and vanquish what appeared to be a small bee or wasp.
As I stepped out the door, Thor came racing in on three legs, sounding like a siren the entire way. Lena came with him and even Pippi emerged from her slumber to check out the situation.
He came in the house and allowed me to look at his tender little back foot. I quickly deduced that nothing was broken or bleeding, so I took precautionary measures and administered Benedryl with peanut butter. One of the advantages of having several veterinarians in the family is that one learns some of the common responses to bee sting emergencies rather quickly. As this was not Thor's first encounter with a bee that ended badly, I knew the drill.
Medicine taken we retired to the cool of the basement where I kept the trembling Thor in my lap until his little heart stopped racing and he fell asleep. When he awoke, he was fine. I assumed that all memory of the injury was gone, but when I put them outside later in the afternoon, he refused to walk in the grass other than a brief trip out to pee.
By nightfall, he was better and this morning he is back to his old self.
But just think if I had needed to go anywhere or keep an appointment. Would I have left him? Probably not. It is really amazing how much the lives of animals can take over our best laid plans. Thank goodness I will be getting a good night's sleep tonight to recover from all this excitement.
No comments:
Post a Comment