Poor Cali
Ryan and I split house cleaning duties. He vacuums the carpet and mops the floors (something I totally dread) and I clean the bathrooms. When it comes to the vacuum, Cali (as do most dogs) is frightened to death of the look of it before it is even turned on. One time I vacuumed upstairs while she hung out downstairs and found her in the sink with the stove gas clicking on, but not lighting. She had jumped up there to hide and in the process, she hit the switch for the stove. So now when it comes to vacuuming, Ryan does it while I take Cali out for a long walk or to the dog park.
This past weekend, I took her to the park and we were only there for about 20 minutes before the fight broke out. Cali does get a little territorial about the watering hole. They have a fountain gadget there that has water bubble out the top for people I guess (kind of high for even big dogs), one at the bottom and then a spicket that sprays water into a bowl. Well, there was no bowl for some reason so the only available water was the lowest water fountain. Cali had already had a drink when she first got there and a dog came by to get a drink at the same time and Cali got a little barky. Then when she went back, another dog was there and they had a barking spree over the bowl. I yelled at Cali, told her she was bad for fighting and she retreated underneath one of the picnic tables (she really hates the “bad” word). I made my way over to her to calm her down and that is when I saw that her nose and mouth were covered in blood. The barking fight had gotten physical and my poor baby Cali had gotten bit!
I was terrified, this had never happened before. I did not know what to do. But I did know that I had to wash off the blood and see what the damage was so I picked her up because she was unwilling to go any other way, and saw the four small cuts on her tender nose and a fang mark on the bridge of her nose. I grabbed her leash, my cell phone and the poor pup and ran out of the park, frantically calling Ryan on the way to the car. I did not know what to do. My worst fear was the she would need stitches so I called the vet as well and the emergency on-call person said that those kind of superficial cuts are nothing to worry about, that they would scab up in a few days. I still carried her inside the house as if she was seriously injured and put her on the counter for Ryan and I to examine her closely. The poor baby had tiny flaps of nose skin hanging on by a thread and the bridge of her nose was already starting to swell up around the fang mark. I was really upset that this happened and I do not think I’ll bring her there any time soon. I think the last time she was actually at the dog park must have been a few months ago. She used to go weekly, but because she has grown used to being on her own she is not used to being around so many other dogs. Plus that other dog was a big bully—barking is fair game, but how can you live with a dog that bites?
