Farm Fresh Blog

Monday, August 12 2013

Sometimes we make poor choices. If we're lucky, we learn from our poor choices. If not, we serve as a cautionary tale for others.

This was my Saturday night:

Am sitting at work, minding my own business, when Other Half calls. He is screaming sentence fragments:

"Blood all over the porch." "Trace needs stitches." "Cannot find Briar." "Need help stitching up Trace." "Come home as soon as you can."

Alrighty then.

A few minutes later he calls to inform me that Trace needs an animal emergency clinic. I'd say that was a clear and accurate representation of the situation.

Trace's front leg from elbow to pastern

I meet him at ER. Trace is muddy, bloody, and has released his anal glands. Yuck. I'm kinda embarrassed that he looks like such an unloved creature. (This is why your momma says to wear clean underwear! I will ammend that advice to include: "Always bathe your dogs too! Even in rainy weather, you can end up in the ER and your very well-bred, well cared-for Border Collie could end up looking like a ragamuffin. And thus, you look like a bad doggy mommy." Just sayin'.)

Anyway, they take him away for sedation, painkillers, and assessment. They come back for money. Estimate: $992 (I think.... it was late and we were in shock, but that sounds about right.)

Anyway, well duh, it's Trace, so we have to plunk down the Ranch Credit Card. And leave him overnight. The vet assures us they will call after surgery. We go home. It is now 3:30 AM. We find Briar. She is fine. We then find the culprit.

Trace had broken the bottom pane of a French door leading from the dining room to the muck room.

Apparently Trace was outside (and came into the muck room) while Other Half was inside the house playing fetch with Aja and Dillon. Trace LOVES to play fetch. He must have crashed through the window pane and with the television on so loud, Other Half didn't hear him. He then ran to the front porch and began bleeding "like a stuck pig." (just out of curiosity: Does a "stuck pig" bleed more than any other 'stuck' mammal?)

We get no sleep Saturday night/Sunday morning. The vet doesn't call. I check my phone at 4:30. At 5:00. At 6:30. by 8:30 I call them. Yes he is ready and can come home.

We drive back out to the city to retrieve Psycho-Pup-Who-Crashes-Windows-to-Play-Fetch. He is now on lots of drugs.

The first day home sucked. He spent a lot of time sleeping on the bed. Since we had no sleep, we slept with him.

At 9:00 PM he got his Rimadyl pill. Trace announced that Rimadyl was great stuff and should be served in 6 packs because he was "back in bidness." (Translated: "It doesn't hurt any more and so I am free to leap on the coffee table with a kong.") Put dog back in bedroom and turn the fan on him.

Day Two: He thinks he's healed. Sees no reason why he cannot be outside. Believes we are punishing him and being unrealistic. Hates Henry. Has announced that if Henry tries one more time to pull off his bandage, Henry will no longer be available for adoption...

Looking back, Trace has decided that perhaps crashing through a glass window wasn't his best idea.

Posted by: forensicfarmgirl AT 12:43 pm | Permalink | 9 Comments | Email

Comments:

Very scary. Glad he's okay. I had something some what similar happen. My Akita was recovering from knee surgery. He was kept in my kitchen with a baby gate. I came home from work one night to find him loose in the yard. Now at the time my smooth coat collie could open dead bolts so my first thought was she had let them out. But the doors were still locked and the other dogs were still inside.

Posted by Nicole G on 08/12/2013 - 06:26 PM

He had somehow pushed the window in the kitchen open, pushed out the screen and fell almost 7 feet to the ground. Luckily he hadn't broken the window but he did mess up his other knee. Dogs can be very inventive in getting what they want. Little bugger's.

Posted by Nicole G on 08/12/2013 - 06:31 PM

Oh that poor baby!! Gotta love border collie reasoning, huh? I've got a fetch-obsessed border, but I don't think she'd ever bust her silly self through a glass door. SO relieved Trace is okay! Trace will heal to troll again!

Posted by Christine on 08/12/2013 - 08:36 PM

OUCH!!!!. Lowes and Home Depot probably sell Lexan (polycarbonate) "glass". It was Belgian proof, so it would probably be BC proof as well.

Posted by Eric on 08/12/2013 - 09:45 PM

Glad he is ok, but that sure was a scary and expensive lesson for all of you! I was glad to learn that we are not the only one to play lively games of fetch indoors! I have marks on the inside of the front door and a braided rug with several gaps in the stitching due to tennis ball sessions while watching Jeopardy.

Posted by clairesmum on 08/13/2013 - 12:49 PM

OMG! Poor, crazy Trace. His leg looks awful! :( My Lab was very gregarious -- to the point that she would insist on greeting anybody and everybody who walked past the house. We lived on a street where there were lots of adults, kids and sometimes dogs walking down the sidewalk. More than once she jumped through the screen on the lower part of the tall dining-room window in order to greet somebody who was walking a dog down the street. (I had to add another screen made of black plastic-like fencing HDPE material to stop her window jumps.)

Posted by Terri's Pal on 08/13/2013 - 07:20 PM

Poor baby! Sending my best healing wishes to Trace. Our old dog Bella once chewed/broke through a French door too. It was Christmas day and we'd gone to see Todd's Mom for an hour our two. Apparently the neighbors had decided to fire off some gunfire and she decided that she absolutely HAD to get inside the house. She split her ear open in the process and it looked like a crime scene in the dining room when we got home! It was awesome having a plywood/French door for several months before we replaced it, so classy:)

Posted by cg on 08/13/2013 - 10:26 PM

Yeah, I understand that kind of "classy." I have that "so classy" look on the bedroom door and the French door leading to the muck room. I used to love French doors, now I'm re-thinking that.

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 08/14/2013 - 11:06 AM

JIMINY CHRISTMAS. I'm glad he is okay. Dude. Maybe next time just say NO to crashing through the window, 'kay?

Posted by Lisa Ochoa on 08/14/2013 - 11:19 AM