Doggie stoke

[fish]

hahaha that video is awesome

[Roxtar]

Brando
He was a rescue and has been the best dog I've ever had.

[Nomad79]

Those dogs are so badass...I can't find the words to describe it.

^ seconded

[ikkin]

rudy celebrating a bluebird pow day with a parking lot game of tug.

[Grange]

Training this morning.

[Leah]

I know this thread is usually very light-hearted, but something happened to my dog two weeks ago that I need bucking up from.

I was throwing sticks for my dog Foxy in the park (Kelpie mix) while my other dog Speck (Aussie mix) chased imaginary squirrels. Pretty normal morning. It had rained the other night, and one of the sticks I threw got stuck in the muddy grass - pointing up at a diagonal. Foxy ran for it, and that's when everything hit slow motion.

For lack of a better way to explain it, Foxy basically skewered herself. She ran strait into the stick, mouth open, and it perforated through the based of her tongue and down her throat. I was standing at the top of the park, and watched as my dog suddenly went totally limp and rag-dolled down the hill. That's when the screaming started. I can't even remember if it was me or Foxy who started screaming first, but as I ran to her I could hear the most high-pitched, loudest wails in my life.

I pulled her off the grass and immediately opened her mouth. Under her tongue, right in the middle, was the very end of a 1/2 in stick just barely sticking out. I gave it a quick tug, she screamed in pain, and I realized it was actually stuck in her throat.

I picked her up and started screaming for help as I ran to the top of the park. Earlier that morning the dogs and I passed two men working on the car just at the top of stairs to the park. I thought of them while I screamed "Somebody help me, please help!" Nobody came to my aid. The park is on a hill so I carried Foxy, who thank goodness is only 30 pounds, up the grass to the top of the steps. The two men were still there working on their car and never turned around as I continued to cry for help.

That's when I looked down at my dog and realized her pupils were barely visible and that she was in shock. I also noticed she was still breathing. A man walking by asked me if I was OK, and I said no my dog has a stick lodged in her throat, will you please watch her while I run to my apartment to get my car. Actually I half yelled, half sobbed that to him. I was in no way calm at this point. The nice man said he would look after her and I took off up the street to my car.

As I ran I realized I had forgotten about Speck and yelled for her to follow me. Poor Speck. She had no idea why I was yelling at her. When I got to my apartment I threw Speck inside, grabbed my purse and almost promptly threw up on the carpet. Turns out I was in shock too, mixed with a lot of running and obviously not being as in good of shape = nausea. My vision instead blacked out for a second and I told myself I didn't have time to vomit.

I jumped in my car and drove to the park where the man was waiting. I yelled "Please put her in the car!" He said no. Thank you America where every person is terrified someone else will sue them. I'm assuming that's why he didn't want to pick up Foxy cause he thought he might make her worse. So I jump out, grab her, throw her in the front seat and head for my veterinary clinic. Fortunately I'm a veterinary assistant so I called the clinic to let them know I was coming. Didn't give a fuck that it had recently become illegal to talk on the cell phone while driving in Oregon.

The receptionists at our clinic have a strict protocol when answering the phone. It goes "Thank you for calling (insert clinic's name). This is (insert receptionist's name). How can I help you today? When I called the receptionist got to "Thank y" before I started to yell "Foxy is choking I'll be there ... now!"

I have never in my life not cared so little about double yellow lines. Or how much a ticket would cost for going double the speed limit. I kept looking at Foxy and how perfectly still she was. I think I spent more time checking to see her side was rising and falling instead of watching the road. I pulled into the clinic's parking lot 5 minutes later (record time by the way). And carried Foxy in. I love my clinic. I LOVE MY CLINIC. They had already put a towel over the treatment table and one of the doctors was walking out of surgery to help while the head vet technician laid foxy down.

I had only been working at the clinic for barely two months when this all happened. I used to be a newspaper journalist. So my tolerance for blood, pain and animals in extreme distress is not at the threshold of an experienced vet assistant. Plus it's my dog covered in the blood, in pain and the extreme distress.

As the vet tech holds Foxy down, the vet opens her mouth and pulls at the stick. Foxy screams, I scream, the vet tech screams "Anesthetize her now!" At this point Foxy is shaking uncontrollably. They give her injectable anesthesia and mask her as well with general. The vet opens her mouth again and I can finally see that the stick has just about completely ripped her tongue in two. I let go of her and start crying "I'm sorry Foxy, I'm so sorry." I'm in no shape to help, let alone watch, so one of the techs walks me away from the scene and I go outside and cry.

While outside I call my boyfriend, tell him what has happened and he is almost in his car before I could finish the story. I walk back in the clinic and into the bathroom where I see what a mess I am. I got dressed for work before taking the dogs to the park, so my scrubs are covered in mud and blood from carrying Foxy. My hair actually has pieces of grass in it and my face is smudged with dirt. I could not have cared less. I didn't even have the motor skills yet to clean myself because my hands are still shaking.

I walk back into the treatment room where the doctor is holding up a 6-inch bloody stick while the vet techs and suturing Foxy's tongue back together. There are little pieces of bark everywhere on the table, her gums, the floor. Her throat is twice the size it is normally. Doctor looks at me, asks if I want to hang the stick above my fireplace, and throws it with vengeance into the trashcan. The techs only suture half her tongue - from the base to the middle - and leave the rest to heal naturally since she still has debris in it and we don't want to risk infection.

Right then Jack, my boyfriend, walks in who has obviously been crying and hugs me while looking at the anesthetized, still form of our dog lying on the treatment table. The tech brings Foxy out of the anesthesia and we carry her using a towel like a stretcher to one of the dog runs in the kennel room. Jack never left her side. I wasn't in the mood to work, but Foxy needed to be monitored the rest of the day, so I tried to get things done while Jack laid on a giant dog bed next to Foxy.

Skip forward two weeks. Foxy is alive!!!! The stick did not enter her trachea or she might have suffocated. Instead it just went through her muscle and scraped up against the trachea. Talk about luck. She has permanent nerve damage in her tongue, which means she is never allowed to chew on anything hard since she instead bites her tongue. We figured that out a week later when we noticed blood dripping from her mouth and the left side of her tongue inflamed and warped. She also has trouble drinking water and eating hard food so we had to force-feed her a water/canned food slurry for a while. Small price to pay I think. Right now she has an abscess on her neck that won't go away after two week's worth of antibiotics. Still small price to pay.

The point is she is slowly coming back to the dog she used to be. She sticks closer to us now, doesn't run or rough house as much and wakes up randomly in the night whining. But I keep believing some day she will be 100 percent again. I know she will. And in the mean time she gets all the treats and soft yummy food she wants with mass mass mass amounts of love.

To finish, a couple days ago I saw one of the men working on his car while I drove the dogs to the park. We don't walk anymore cause Foxy can't wear a collar until her abscess resides. I pulled up next to him and realized it was a man I had met before. He was always very nice and liked my dogs. He turned around right then to say hi to me, and I asked him if he had heard a girl screaming for help in the park one morning a few weeks ago. He said he had. And it was like a flashbulb lit up above his head. He said "Was that you?" I said yes, my dog was dying for all I knew. He said he didn't know why someone was screaming, and that's why he decided not to respond. Wow. I looked at him and said "I can't believe you would ignore someone's cry for help. I'm completely disgusted." And he looked at me, slunk his head and said "You're right, I'm sorry." I told him next time he hears cries for help, do the human thing and respond. And I drove off.

[Mazderati]

Leah, sorry to about your experience. It sounds like your dog is on the way to a full recovery, though. I know someone who had a similar experience with a Greyhound, only the stick impaled the chest cavity. That dog made a full recover, as well.

The video of the dogs sliding down the hill is, without a doubt, one of the best things I've seen.

[ddsnake]

Milton, I love your video .

[neck beard]

Long winter, needs a hair cut. Bad.

[mnfreeskier]

[akokskis]

^^^ Beautiful dog and beautiful shots.

[fish]

that first shot is awesome! love the golden colors.

Leah... what a freak accident I cannot believe that could happen. I'm happy your dog is ok

[Art Shirk]

Leah, what a horrible event. So glad that Foxy is still around.

Here is my pooch from a couple weekends ago up in Mazama, WA. Another first for her: ice.

[pointedem]

This is stoli. He just turned 4.











Strapped a flashlight to his neck the other night:

[Lev]

This has been a solid day for some doggie stoke Ya'll got some good looking buddies!

[monkeywrenchMoose]

This is stoli. He just turned 4.
Strapped a flashlight to his neck the other night:

This = my new background.

Cool concept too.

[mnfreeskier]

Mmmmm.... Stoli Vanil!
Nice Pics!

[Grange]

My dog doing what she loves, pointing a grouse.

[fish]

went touring last week with the puppy... not too far up though

[Meathelmet]

Long winter, needs a hair cut. Bad.

Lloyd,baddasseste little critter out there.

[MuleSkinner]

BD and Ernest - BD's first time seeing the ocean. Puked a gallon of seawater after.

[Ccard257]

from a friend's wedding this weekend

[supermodel159]

from a friend's wedding this weekend

As an owner of two vizslas, I can't believe they could get theirs to fall asleep with so much excitement all around.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

^^^ Doggie Downers?

Old Torvald at the Dog Park:


Jack Finds a dancing partner:


Jack getting face shots (that's him in the middle of the pic, to my left):

(picture courtesy nieveparasiempre)

Jack and I taking in the view:

(picture courtesy nieveparasiempre)

[sIlentRagE]

my best bud...