Jazzy Has A Boo-Boo

Jazzy and I had *SOME* morning! She was wanting to nibble on me, or grab hold of my pant legs. I'm trying hard to break her of using her teeth like that. Have read up on several techniques. One that seemed to hold promise was isolating her from the social scene, since she is such a social animal (sorta like a time out). Well, after one such period, she was getting some reassurance from me that I still loved her, that she just couldn't hurt me with her teeth, and we were watching a tape of Dancing With The Stars together (she likes the music). She was playing with her toy, and it fell off of the couch. She took a dive after it, and hyperextended her left front paw-all of her weight fell on it. She immediately started to yelp, and then to cry. Her paw went limp and a bulge started to form. Oh my-she was really hurt! She tried to walk on it, and crumbled. I picked her up and tried to console her. Nothing worked-she was crying like a baby-and holding her paw out like, "I've got an owie!"

So, I called Russ and asked him to come home, since he is just five minutes away and it was near lunchtime anyway. I had to change out of my sweat pants to go out, and that is hard to do with a dog in your arms. I put her down, and she would try to come to me for comfort, and it would hurt her. So I eventually put her in her kennel so I could get ready to go and she would not injure herself worse.

The vet had us come right in to the office, and they were so nice! By then, she was able to put some weight on it, and she wasn't just letting it dangle. The doc said puppy bones are so rubbery, that it is possible she didn't break it. But he was concerned with the little bit of swelling, and that she was still hobbling around. So, he said he would have to sedate her slightly-the kind that wears off fast, and then have her x-rayed, and maybe put a splint on it. The x-rays showed some soft tissue injury-a sprain-but no breaks. He showed us the x-ray and explained it all to us. He said she was getting around okay so he decided not to wrap or splint it. But, she is to be subdued in her activity today, and maybe tomorrow.

Well, when they brought her out, she was whimpering and she had everyone wrapped around her little paw. She cried the whole way home, so I put her straight to bed and now she is sleeping soundly.

It's no fun having your baby hurt! But they are resilient and she will be fine-she is already so much better than she was in that first half hour.