Dog Bite

First of all I'd like to say "thank you" to everyone who wrote to check on me... it really made my day to see so many messages from my friends. 😊 So this means that you love me! You really LOVE me! 😃

Anyway, so here's the whole story: Yesterday I was about to bathe a little 5 month old Jack Russell Terrier named Snoopy... but before the bath I wanted to get his nails clipped and his ears cleaned. Well, I was doing his nails and got both of the back feet without much of a hassle. Then I moved to the front... he allowed me to clip his right foot, but not without some fussing. He wasn't really growling... just sort of grumbling at me. If you've ever trimmed a dog's nails you know that most of them DO NOT like it. And quite a few of them will grumble at you and fuss and some will even put their teeth ON you... not even necessarily with their mouth open, but they will do that pretty much as a warning that they don't like what you're doing.

So... all I was getting was a little bit of fussing on the first front foot, which I didn't think much about. When I picked up the other front paw he just grumbled some more and lowered his head (which isn't unusual). So I started clipping... and then he went all Cujo on my hand. The first time he bit hurt the worst so I'm assuming that's when he left the puncture wound although I didn't know it at the time. The other few times he bit were a little less forceful probably because he realized that (for reasons I'm not even sure of) it wasn't making me let go of his foot. Honestly, until I saw the wound I thought he was just protesting... I didn't know that he was really trying to prove his point.

So after his tantrum (with me STILL holding his foot), I noticed my hand throbbing and saw the little hole... one of the other bathers came over and muzzled him and I finished his nails. See, if you let them show their asses and get their way they'll just be that much worse the next go round. So I finished what I had to do. I know I didn't hurt the little shit... he had clear nails so I could see his quicks and I hadn't cut any of them. He just didn't like what was going on.

After I finished I got a better look at my hand... it was a small hole, but it was there. We decided that we should probably tell management (since that IS the rule) and so we did. I had to call a nurse who STRONGLY recommended that I go to the ER... mostly because the puppy hadn't had his rabies shots yet. We take them in the salon up to 6 months old without them and he was only 5. Not only that, but I don't have insurance and if I hadn't went when they sent me I would have probably been liable had there been any complications so... I went.

It was GRUELING. I got there before 9 pm and I didn't make it out of there until 2 am. I am on antibiotics and I had to have a Tetanus shot (which is killing my shoulder, btw). Not only that, but the incident had to be reported to the authorities and the health department. It was even recommended that I call Animal Control, but I'm not going to do that. He was just a puppy - probably spoiled to hell and back and not used to his feet being handled. OH, and here's the best part: if we don't go through the proper channels and have him quarantined for 10 days I'll have to take rabies shots. The hospital and health department both have their eyes on me.

So yeah... all this fuss over a puncture that within two hours closed up to be about this long: -- And the moral of the story is: Handle your dogs feet. And have them vaccinated ASAP. It sure would make my life easier. 😝