It Hurts

So, Monday afternoon Chili dug out of our yard and worked his way into a neighbor's yard, where he got attacked by their two Akitas. Of course, we do not blame our neighbors...Chili was the one dumb enough to do something like that, and the other dogs were defending their territory. Luckily for Chili, during the attack some stuff got knocked over and blocked the bigger dogs' access to him. Emma found him like that. Teresa brought him home and noticed he was limping. He had a few puncture wounds around his shoulders, one that looked deep and serious, so the vet was called. As it turns out, one of the Akitas had picked Chili up and shook him, with one tooth puncturing his shoulder all the way to the bone. During the shaking, this tore some muscles away from the bone and Chili had to have surgery. We were all very upset, even our checking account. He spent Monday and Tuesday at the vet and we picked him up this morning. Poor little guy...he has a little cone on his head and a three inch incision on his shoulder with a drain line that they will remove on Saturday. we have to keep him separate from Chester, so he is currently laying on his bed in a dog crate next to my desk. He is going to be fine and will certainly make a full recovery. I hope he learns that you don't do things like that...but who knows. No one would ever accuse him of being smart.

Needless to say, this event has consumed our family for the past couple of days, and has been very dramatic. We are really happy that he's home and resting. It's funny how attached we get to pets, and the spending of significant amounts of money to help them isn't even questioned. Chili is a member of our family, and when he hurts, we hurt.

Get well, little guy.