Rodin the Bird dog
I have dogs. I have three very large, hairy dogs. Three German Shepherds with an incredible knack for shedding.
One of my dogs is a male named Rodin. He is a beautiful dog with conformation that is perfect in every way except for his ears which are too far on the sides of his head giving him the appearance of Yoda when he is not at attention.
He is a great dog, loving and lazy. He also loves birds. I often catch him sitting staring up at the sky.
A few weekends ago on a sunny Sunday we were all in the house including, or so I thought, all three dogs. I was working in the basement and Jake was playing the X-Box version of working in the basement.
When I was about to quit we heard a loud sound and then a dog crying in pain. It had come from outside. When the front door was opened Rodin came running in on three legs unable to put weight on the right hind. There was a tear in the skin on the inside of his styfle (dog knee) and a tiny scratch on the tip of his nose. Nothing else that we could see.
We had no explaination except that Jake said he had seen a fox on the outside of the gate. We have had them in our yard before because they are small enough to fit through the bars of the gates. I knew that I would have to take him to the vet for stitches, and he was still unwilling to put weight on the leg.
Now of course it was Sunday which meant Emergency vet as apposed to family vet. We loaded him up and all headed off to sit in the Emergency room for 2 and a half hours. We watched other emergencys more pressing than ours come and go. There was some high drama just like on TV. By now Rodin was stretched out on the floor as comfy as could be. Finally we saw the doctor, explained our Fox theory as best we could and left Rodin there for his stiches. He would have to be put under for the x-rays and stitching. We left with instructions to call at 9pm that night to see IF...IF...he had gone into surgery yet. I could then either pick him up at 3am or at 7:30 am. (Emergency vets work during all the hours that your regular vet doesn't ...all the inconvenient hours)
We drove home and at 8pm I sent Jake to take his shower before bed. He came back a minute later and said... "Mom...did you mess up my bathroom rug and open the window?"
Yeah, I thought...Mom's do that....
We all headed to Jake's bathroom and sure enough the rug was bunched up underneath the window which was wide open, glass and screen, to the cold winter night. Then we noticed the paint chips on the floor. Looking behind the opened door we saw the scratch marks that had torn up the paint on the inside.
Like detectives we went out with flashlights and found small drops of blood in the snow beneath the window along with one tuft of hair.
Rodin, my lazy German Shepherd had become locked in the bathroom and, after opening the window and screen with his nose, had jumped out.
We stood in the cold night air looking at that window. The bottom ledge is over 16 feet from the ground.
At 6:30am I drove to the Emergency vet. The x-rays revealed no broken bones or internal damage. I walked out with my bill and my dog.
My German Shepherd thinks he's a bird and it nearly cost him his life and totally cost me.......over $1300.
Posted:
2/8/2009 6:19:47 PM by
Linda Eder | with
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