I have a crazy story about our two dogs (Sugar and Pippa) that I have to share with you.
It’s SO unbelievable. There’s no way I could have thought this up.
It happened last night, and my husband and I can’t stop talking about how crazy it was. How lucky we were that it didn’t end up as bad as it could have.
Seriously – it could’ve been bad!
We easily could have ended up with one of our dogs at an emergency veterinary hospital.
But, luckily we didn’t. Our dogs are fine, we (my husband and I) were just shaken up for a while.
Quick backstory…we share a fence with a neighbor that also has two dogs. One of their dogs and one of ours (Pippa – the red and white one) fiercely defend his/her side of the fence.
It’s crazy as they are each the sweetest dogs when you meet them, but that fence turns them into crazed enemies.
Dogs!
(please believe me that we have tried countless ways to deter their behavior)
When we let our dogs outside we pay attention if the dogs next door are also outside. Particularly the one that fiercely defends his side of the fence.
Well, when I let Pippa and Sugar out, the neighbor dogs were also out …. and as what sometimes happens Pippa and Sugar were at the fence, right next to each other – barking their heads off and fiercely defending their territory (our backyard).
To give a little perspective: Sugar is 55lbs and was standing over Pippa (who is 30lbs).
I was already outside and ran over to get them away from the fence.
That’s when everything turned upside down and went haywire. Mind you – this next part of the story was probably all of 2 minutes, if that.
As Pippa and Sugar started to get off the fence, they both started shrieking terribly. I mean that horrible high-pieced sound that animals make when they are hurt.
You know that sound? It’s alarming, scary, and sends chills down your spine. You have no idea what’s wrong, but you know that sound means something isn’t right.
And then I noticed that my dogs were somehow attached to each other. They were connected. So when one ran, the other was pulled with her. Something was definitely wrong!
I immediately grabbed them and held them together as best I could.
*Note – they didn’t run far – maybe 10 feet. This all happened SUPER quickly.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold two dogs still when they desperately want to get away?!
That’s when I noticed it…. Sugar’s collar was somehow attached to Pippa’s face.
Yes, her face! Ew!! I know!!!
As I was holding them together, I was also yelling for my husband to come outside, and trying to tell my dogs to hold still. But dogs don’t understand to stay still. They’re freaking out. They just want to run away.
Dang – it was a sight!
My husband was outside lickity-split and held onto Sugar, while I held Pippa between my legs.
Then I was able to look a little closer….
Sugar’s collar was attached to Pippa’s eye! (I know this sounds gross, it was, but not as bad as you might think – trust me)
I quickly unclasped Sugar’s collar. Off she ran – free from her sister.
Now we were able to have a clear look at Pippa. (Looking back, I wish I had taken a picture of her at that time. As visual proof.)
Are you familiar with those sturdy “S” hooks that hold your dog’s tags on her collar? They’re meant to keep the tags attached to the collar, so they are thick and don’t bend without pliers.
Well, in a crazy, freaky way, one side of that “S” hook from Sugar’s collar had hooked on and gotten inside Pippa’s lower eyelid.
Not a little piece – the whole section! It was hanging from her lower eyelid, with the collar dangling. Still attached.
No wonder why she was freaking out and shrieking! I mean, seriously, how does that happen???? That S hook was practically closed on each end.
So, my husband held Pippa still while I slowly and very carefully removed the S hook from her eyelid. (During this I was internally freaking out that it would catch or snag and we would need to run her to the emergency vet.)
Pippa was great. She stayed perfectly still and didn’t move. The S hook came out without any issue. Clean and smooth. Phew!!! Thank goodness!
We examined her eye and around it very thoroughly. There was a little blood, but her eyelid wasn’t torn and her eye itself was fine.
Crazy!!!
So we flushed out her eye with saline water and watched it intently for a few minutes. Her eye was a little red for a few hours, but that was it. Pippa had completely forgotten about it within a few minutes and was back to her old self.
Turns out the blood was mine. Not sure from what, but that didn’t matter, it was just a tiny puncture on my finger.
Now, isn’t that an unbelievable, crazy story! And fortunately one with a happy ending.
Dogs!!