Worst Dog Day Ever - UPDATE

[Golfgirlrobin]

UPDATE- We're off to the vet again. I made the mistake of thinking I could take a shower and when I got out Bunker was missing four of her stitches and bleeding again. I blame it on her sister Chauncy who is generally the troublemaker. It gets better and better.
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I had promised the dogs we'd go swimming yesterday when husband got home.* It's not like I can't handle all three but Chris loves watching them swim so much that I said we'd wait for him.* He calls, running late, tells us to go ahead without him.* No bigee.

Twenty minutes later dogs are going strong but I'm just sitting in a chair, reading a magazine and enjoying a little moment of zen, when I look up to see Bunker and Darby sinking in the deep end.* Lots of thrashing and down they went.* Fully clothed, I go in after them and somehow manage to get 155 total pounds of wet dog back up to the top.*

I finally get them up the steps at the shallow end and see that Bunker's collar has become caught around Darby's lower jaw.* The jaw is stuck out at an impossible angle but that proves to be the least of the problem.* Bunker is being choked to death.* Eyes are bulging out, no air going in and I can't get the collar off.* I hear the garage door open and start screaming for Chris to come help me.* He can't do anything either and I go running to the kitchen for a knife.

We only have one decent knife, a $125 Henckel that Chris gave me hell for buying.* "Who spends $125 on one knife?"

I get back to the pool and Bunker has collapsed, dragging Darby down with her, a capillary has burst in her left eye, it's blood red and she is drooling blood.* Chris can't get the knife under the collar because the collar is cutting into her neck so tightly and finally has to stick it into her neck and cut her to give himself the room to work.*

She's got one of those rolled leather collars and it took forever to cut through it.* Finally comes loose and everybody breaks free.*

Net result, no permanent damage to her throat although she'll be on soft food for awhile, the eye will absorb the blood in time, and eight stitches to close the gash in her neck.* X-rays showed that Darby's jaw wasn't broken but the vet felt from the looseness in it that it had probably dislocated and popped back in.* Anti-inflammatories for her.

Somewhere in this whole mess Chris also managed to cut himself and went to the emergency room at 3:00 a.m. this morning so that he could get stitches before he went to work.* He just called, he got five stitches and can't even remember cutting himself.

I was up all night watching the two of them sleep just to make sure nothing bad happened so if you saw me logged in at some ridiculous time in the middle of the night, that's why.* Chris's last words before he went to bed last night?* "That's a pretty good knife you bought there."*

I've seen a bunch of really horrible sights in my life, but I don't know that any of them compared to watching this dog dying in front of me.* I can't believe that she had more than 15 seconds left at the point we freed her.

Nobody seems very lively this morning except me and I'm wound up like a cheap clock.* That's probably why this has gotten so long.* Sorry.*

Moral of the story:* No collars again, ever.* If this had happened when no one was home, Bunker and probably Darby would both be dead.*

I don't think I'm ever going to get the picture of that poor dog drooling blood and just silently looking at me like she knew she was dying.* Really awful.* And that is my worst dog day ever.

[Ender's Mom]

OH MY GAWD!!! THAT'S HORRIBLE!!!

I kept thinking "It must have been a nightmare... please tell me it was just a nightmare"

[jzgrlduff]

OMG Robin :'( What an ordeal!!!!!! Thank God they're OK. I can't even imagine seeing that, I'd probably panic and not know what to do. My two never, ever wear their collars, except if we're out for a walk.

[imported_Melissa]

Oh God, Robin. I can't even imagine what you were going through. Thank goodness everyone's going to be okay.

I'm just stunned reading your story, I can't imagine living it.

[Cinder4evr]

Glad everybody is o.k. Unbelievable how much damage a collar can cause

[2LabsInNEPA]

My gosh! I am so very glad that they are Ok. How terrible it must have been for you.

[Chester B. Dickens]

First Connie and now you -- I'm shaking just reading about it. Can't imagine living through it. A guardian angel was w/your dogs last night for sure.

Deep breath. Thank your lucky stars. Hugs to the dogs. Move onward.....

[imported_Aim]

Thank God they are both ok.

And thank goodness for that knife!!!

I hope everyone is doing ok today.

[Golfgirlrobin]

I actually forgot the only kind of funny part of the story. As we were leaving the vet last night, my husband turns to me and comments on how long it seemed like it took for me to come back with the knife. He said, "It was so long that I thought you'd stopped to make a sandwich." An hour later he's talking to my mother on the phone and tells her it was so long that he thought I'd gone out for pizza.

I've got a bad feeling that by the time he's done telling this story that it's going to sound like I stopped to take a nap.

[Sheila]

OMG....I can't imagine the helplessness of not being able to free them. Thank God they are okay.

As Dan said...your guardian angels were working overtime!!