Down for the Count

My big smashed faced, slobbery shadow is on the sidelines for a few days. I knew something was wrong when I pulled in down at the road to open the gate last night. Usually Boone is right by the fence, with a goofy grin on his face, storming around, happy as a clam, 'she's home! she's home!' Ariel is right there too, unless she doesn't hear me drive up. As I opened the gate, I noticed Ariel at the fence watching me, but Boone was sitting way back in the yard...just sitting there. Uh oh.


I pulled the truck up, and got out, and finally Boone got up...barely. Poor guy could hardly walk. His back was all arched up and he painfully hobbled over to the gate. Good grief. All kinds of things were going through my mind. Had he injured his back? A hip? I checked him all over, just in case he'd been shot or something. His one leg was quivering, so I was sure it was some kind of serious damage to the hip or back. He was very pitiful.


When I got to the hallway, I noticed blood spots on the pavement. Hmmm.... okay, I didn't see any blood on him, so a more thorough check up was in order. I got him to lay down and then looked at his pads. I didn't really expect to find much, because it seemed both feet were affected and why would he have cut both feet? Well, this is what I found (it's kinda graphic for those on the squeamish side --not naming names, here...;-) .

Hoochie, ow ow! This one is the worst, but the other foot pad is not much better. Poor old dork dogue. I've since treated them several times, and he seems better today. It's just going to take a few days I think. In the meantime 'we' are sidelined. It's just too painful to watch the big feller try and follow my ever step. He tries, but with that uber sad face anyway, it's just too much to bear.

I will admit this is a better alternative to my first fears, provided they heal up without complications. I was thinking all kinds of spinal, joint, or nerve damage. These dogs carry around so much weight that they tend have issues with these things anyway.

So a couple baby aspirin, peroxide, ointment and socks to keep him from licking off the medications and he was ready to sack out last night.


You are probably wondering, like I did, how in the world did he do that? Using my best CSI skills, and knowing Boone, this is what I've come up with. First a little background. My house is an old school house, and this gives the yard some unique features. Across the entire front of the house is a sidewalk that is about 4-6 foot wide. On one end of the yard, the sidewalk turns and goes along the side of the yard. It narrows down to a normal width sidewalk in this section. On the opposite side of the house, the entire 'yard' is concrete, the original floor to the part of the school that burnt. So to sum it up--lots of concrete surface. This works great in the respect that I never have to trim the dogs toe nails!

Here are the facts: Boone gets to stay out in the yard on Fridays. The (new) neighbor's dog is in heat (don't get me started on this whole subject!). Therefore there is a strange male dog lurking in town. Boone doesn't like strange dogs anywhere near his world. He goes gunning for them, to the extent that a fenced in yard allows. He zones out when he is charging around being tough. He also does this when he plays, and has hurt himself many times just by running around like some 10 pound Yorkie. He is very klutzy. He doesn't always think these things through.

Here is what I think happened: Said lurking dog, most likely came by the house in the adjacent field, or down the road. Boone and Ariel were barking and yelling threats. The lurker wasn't listening, so Boone went charging down across the pavement, perhaps tried to stop too fast, or skidded and stripped the flesh off his foot pads. It's the best I can come up with.

Ariel was exhausted too, so this all probably went on for awhile, before the big dogue went down. I gave a lecture while fixing his feet, about 135 pound dogs running around like rabbits, but I doubt it will make a difference. Still and all, I hate to see my big buddy hurting and hope he heals quickly.