The Dogboys

I am a giant Dog Dork. I love dogs, and all things dog, including doggie kisses and noses. I do not (yet) wear embarrassing outerwear embroidered with them, but I do admit to having dog socks, and the ID tag from my previous dog, Cyrus, on my keychain.

What I do NOT like is Doggie Tantrums, which is what my younger dog, Baci, is doing right now. He's sitting by the back door whining and probably drooling... yep, he's drooling (he always does that when he has a tantrum)... because I have had the nerve to put him Out while I am In. Even worse, he's out there alone, because our other dog, Tyler, is at the vet today having surgery. Baci is rarely alone, which means poor old Tyler is rarely alone, either, because Baci worships the ground Tyler walks on.

Tyler is having surgery because he has a hematoma on his left ear, poor guy. I didn't know that could happen, actually. Even worse, I feel like it's all my fault, in a roundabout way. A few weeks ago, DH and I saw a sign at the local PetCo for three young labs that needed a new home due to foreclosure. We have room for a third dog, potentially, and that might give Baci someone to play with and maybe leave Tyler, who at eleven is starting to slow down, alone. So, I called the number, and the next day a woman showed up with this... DOG. It wasn't full lab, as it turned out, but half lab and half boxer, and it was entirely untrained. It dragged the woman all over the yard before coming into the house, and then once she was in here (our dogs were out back at the time), she promptly peed on the carpet. We thought it was the long ride here, or excitement, since labs are generally thrilled to see each other, so we decided to let her go to the back yard to meet the dogboys. Well, it wasn't excitement, we found out pretty quickly, but dominance, and she promptly attacked both of our dogs!! Tyler got the worst of it before we could get her off, and ended up with a big gash in his ear. I have a feeling that the attack is what led to this hematoma, since they are caused by a weakening of the cartiledge in the ear flap that exposes veins to damage. I think what happened was that she damaged his cartiledge, and then at some point this week he must have whacked his ear while shaking his head, and the blood pooled inside. His poor ear felt like a ziplock baggie full of water!!!! Thank goodness I didn't lance it myself, as I thought initially it was just a fluid-filled cyst, which he has had before on his side, although way, way smaller, more like a blister size, and which I usually tend to myself. This was nearly half his ear flap, which on a lab is pretty big. You could have knocked me over with a feather when the vet got a syringe full of blood out of it!!!! She said when she was done that it would probably come right back, and it did. Apparently this isn't uncommon in older dogs, although I don't know anyone who has had this happen to theirs. One friend told me last night, though, that her dog died from a nasal hemotoma, so now I'm paranoid about THAT, thanks.

Anyway, Baci's going to be spending a lot more time away from Tyler for the next few days while his ear heals, and it will be good for him to get used to being more on his own, anyway. Tyler is getting older, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was his last winter. That will be a huge transition, since he was DH's and my first dog together, and we got him the summer before we got married. We lost his brother, to whom I was horribly attached, to cancer last year, so when Tyler goes it will truly be the end of an era. We got Baci, a chocolate, to fill the void when Cyrus died, and it's amazing how alike they are; big, needy and dopey!! Tyler is very cat-like; neat, dignified, and and likes his space. That's probably why the cat doesn't hate him with a passion; she can't STAND Baci's dopey ways. Oh, and she probably doesn't like it that he gets his doggie cooties all over her bowl when he steals her food, too.