A good hike gone wrong

[JW_Halverson]

Today was going to be cold, drizzly, and breezy. In other words, perfect for a hike to get rid of the stink in my pants sour mood from cabin fever. My buddy, Nick and I loaded our dogs in my vehicle and headed up Nemo Road to the canyon. We got to Steamboat Rock and jumped out to pee in the tall grass in the ditch and get on with getting on with the program.

We headed down to Boxelder Creek where the girls could have a semiprivate skinnydip in the ice cold gin clear waters. I had fetched along the dog toenail cutters so we could take advantage of the softened nails while we were out, a normal part of he and I pack walking the dogs in the Hills.

I had brought along a short "nosewarmer" pipe and was loading a plug of tobacco into it at this nice deep hole in the creek next to a granite wall. It is scenic as all get out and I was telling Nick about a certain fat brown trout I had successfully pulled from that water when I looked over at Lena for some reason. She was looking back over her shoulder at me and the look on her face just wasn't right. I noticed her right hind leg was held up at an odd angle and blood was running from it.

"STAY" I commanded in a voice that is supposed to mean business without carrying any anger. Lena was/is feral and very sensitive to tone in my voice. I hurried over to her and knelt down to get a look. The innermost toe on the back right foot was nearly torn off and the blood was freely running. "Hold", I told her as I gently picked her up in my arms and began to beat it back to the vehicle. She's only 40 lbs and it was less than a half mile,but turning 61 and having Covid whip me like a red haired stepchild has stolen much of my endurance. I was puffing hard by the time I got to the vehicle and threw the keys to Nick telling him to drive.

I pulled my emergency duffel from the back and found the clean rags I keep in there. I wrapped her foot and put her in a down/stay on the seat next to me as Nick pushed that Kia through the twisty curves of the canyon. Cell service is hit or miss at best in the Black Hills and in this canyon its almost all miss.  As we broke out of the canyon on the edge of town I reached my vets office, but she had already left for the day. I called my backup vet and they said they were booked up and asked me to call the emergency vet clinic. They answered in the first ring and I gave a brief description of what happened and how far we were out. They advised me which door to come in and said they would be ready.

True to their word, they had things in order and only the briefest paperwork to fill out. Nobody likes paperwork, and this is never so true as when one you love is bleeding on the floor next to you. A quick run into the surgery, all done with just a local injection for pain and she was stitched and bandaged up. The bill was half what I expected and a mere fraction of my deductible/co-pay for my own recent visit to the ER!

Now here's the takeaway: That ONE toenail was grossly overgrown, nearly a half circle! I regularly trim her front nails, but her rear nails seem to take care of themselves. Or so I wrongly assumed. I had neglected to check for months, obviously, and my failure to do so caused her this injury. I do regular checks of the usual; eyes, ears, coat, teeth, but somehow just plain blew off checking her back feet FOR MONTHS.

[YosemiteBen]

dang JW! those little things do sneak up on you! Hope shes on the mend!

[Pappy]

Glad she is ok, seems always something with a dog.
 Pappy

[JW_Halverson]

Glad she is ok, seems always something with a dog.
 Pappy

Yes, it is. Lena is a tuff 'un, though. Her mother and siblings were trapped when the pups were about 7-8 weeks old on a landfill on Pine Ridge Reservation. She wouldn't go in the trap, so the rescuers took what they had and left, figuring they could get her in a few days. She successfully evaded their best efforts and the efforts of the crew at the landfill that regularly shot strays hanging around. She was about 9 months old when she finally screwed up and got trapped. When they went to get her from the trap she appeared quite calm, but when they reached in Lena got hold of the woman's arm and savaged her pretty badly. Lena spent several months at a professional dog trainer's place before I kinda found myself pitying her and doing an on again off again fostering situation. Lemme tell you, she was not a warm dog. She wanted nothing to do with me unless it involved food or water. With me, she ate or drank only while I held the bowl for about a month in order to get her to understand that I was going to provide survival for her. It was three and half years with me before one day she simply rolled over so I could rub her belly. She never voluntarily allowed that until then. To this day she behaves more like a coyote than a dog. She's the complete opposite to my last dog, Scully - the world's friendliest dog in history.

She's never been sick. Can eat and thrive on virtually anything (once ate half a pound of butter off the counter and turned it into a solid turd), though I tend to feed her better quality foods and few human food treats. She whipped a dog twice her size when he jumped her in the dog park and ran him off in seconds (don't mess with them Lakota women - they take scalps). If it weren't for the grey in her face, folks would think she was less than half her age.

Tempermentally, she's still not the dog I really wanted. But the fact of the matter is that I cannot think of anyone else that was suited to handling her. If a family would have adopted her she would have been dumped soon after. She wouldn't have handled a household with another dog either, she'd have fought it out to the end. For the first 5 years I had a lot of the freedom to take her for day long hikes and burn off that energy that would have destroyed someone's home when she was left for long. She would have been labeled a bad dog by most, ending up dumped at the pound time after time, if not just taken out and shot. I'm used to taking care of hawks, owls, and falcons...critters that could not care less if you lived or died. I am used to working with the wild ones. When I started treating her like a hawk and training her like I did with the birds we came to an understanding. Every agreement was on a one time basis and was purely transactional. At around age 9 she began to ask for attention and has become affectionate in her own way. But always on her terms.

There are only a few very short years left, and I mean to make 'em count. She's got a lot of lessons to teach me in those years, so I better stay on point and on task, you know?

[Pat B]

If you have pets and spend time outside with them these emergencies are expected. Sounded like you took it in stride and did what had to be done. I spent a couple of hours yesterday with Rosie who suffers from allergies and was in a bad episode. A few meds and a couple hundred dollars and we got to go home.
 Tell Lena we are thinking of her and for her to listen to what Dad and the Vet say.  Wishing her a speedy recovery.

[JW_Halverson]

If you have pets and spend time outside with them these emergencies are expected. Sounded like you took it in stride and did what had to be done. I spent a couple of hours yesterday with Rosie who suffers from allergies and was in a bad episode. A few meds and a couple hundred dollars and we got to go home.
 Tell Lena we are thinking of her and for her to listen to what Dad and the Vet say.  Wishing her a speedy recovery.

She was back to rough housing with my buddy Nick's pup today like nothing happened. Nonetheless, pain meds and the full course of antibiotics will continue until the finish line

[Pat B]

It's amazing how quickly dogs can get over injuries like this. Glad to hear that Lend is doing better. 

[Pappy]

Great story JW, your a good man, I love dogs and am usually pretty good getting to act right, but I usually start with a pup and get my bluff in very very early so they know who the boss is, not sure how I would do starting with a older dog with lots of issues, I have had a few strays and they worked out very good but was much more challenging than starting with a pup. People now days seem to think dogs are people and reason like people but they ant and they don't, I try to always remember as much as I love them they ant people.
 Pappy

[Parnell]

Glad she is ok, JW.  Was a good read.