Small And Big Tails (or Tales)

The 300 pound dog is in the news again.

I have written about the 300 pound dog in the past, here and here. As you may recall, the 300 pound dog is actually 4 dogs together, my two (german shepherd and labrador mix) and my sons two (german shepherd and golden retriever).

First of all, the 300 pound dog has now become the 310 pound dog with the addition of a chiweenie.


(A chiweenie is a mix between a chihuahua and a dachshund). My son and his family got her a few days before Christmas. She is a little thing but will grow up tough living with the other two big dogs. I won't be surprised if she turns out to be the boss of the family.

The other news is that the golden got hit by a car last night.

We had just finished cleaning up from the Christmas marathon and were settling down to watch a movie. I got a frantic call from the Daughter-in-Law saying that the golden had been hit by a car and asked if I would go help Son with her. I quickly grabbed a big dog blanket, jumped in the car, and rushed to the busy intersection where she had been clobbered by a speeding suburban. I never did care much for suburbans and now I like them even less.

I found her in the midst of a group of people laying on her side. She recognized me and tried to wag her tail. She had a large gash on her side. One of the people was keeping pressure on it. It looked bad but was not bleeding much. We got her on the dog blanket and put her in the back of the car.

Fortunately there is an emergency dog hospital about two miles away from where she was hit. Son and I quickly got her there. They immediately gave her some morphine and put her on a IV. We were there for about an hour while they stabilized her, did a blood workup and took x-rays.

She is going to be okay. She has a bruised lung and the big gash on her side, neither of which will require surgery. However, she also has a broken pelvis. The pelvis will require surgery. I looks like it is broken in three places. Son and DIL have a consult with an orthopedic surgeon later this morning to get the details on what the surgery will entail. The important thing is that she will recover. Son is devistated. It was his fault that the dogs got out. I am not sure if he will recover from that.

It was interesting when I got back home. I brought the dog blanket that we has wrapped the golden in back with me. My GS would not stop sniffing it. She just kept smelling and smelling it. I put it up out of her reach and she just kept jumping, trying to get to it. I know she could smell the golden's scent on it. But the way she was reacting, it was like she could "read" the whole story of the event from the blanket. The blanket had traveled to the hospital with us. It went into the treatment room with the golden. Sometimes I wonder just what dogs can "see" with their noses.

So our Christmas ended on kind of a sad note. At least she is going to be alright. It is something that time and money will cure. Thank goodness that we have enough of each to cover her recovery.