March!

I've been away slogging through life on a topography that has been rugged and unforgiving.  My mother in law passed.  It was a merciful release.  So much of what she suffered from could have been addressed by simply going to the doctor.

She made a choice to pray v. simply visiting the doctor.  Sometimes people ask too much from God, when they simply can take care of their issues with a simple medical intervention.  Her approach to her life would have been fine, except seldom do our approaches--our individual choices--involve only ourselves.  Rather, the string of choices that we make wraps everyone up in our axle.


On the dog front, Angel Marie began hunting down, Daisey.  First is was skirmish at the front door, then it became seek and destroy.  My husband got caught in the middle. Angel bit him, though we are confident that he had his hand in an inopportune place.  Though she did not intentionally bite him, she was ready to do harm to Daisey.  I must add that this certitude came after several hours.  The first reaction was, "Angel is going down."  In fact, I had a vet appointment that day.  My redirect was simply to have her euthanized v. her checkup.  Simply put, we could not have a dog actively seeking to harm another dog in our household.

A dog bite sets off calls to the local authorities.  It's a big deal. We ventured to Patient First who punted us to the emergency room. I hadn't even parked the car when I got a call from the animal control officer.  I told him that we were going to put the dog down (this is before Mark reflected more on what happened).  He said the dog had to be kept for 10 days.

A dog dies in 10 days from rabies, and the dog cannot transmit rabies unless it is symptomatic.  Therefore,  the quarantine ensures that if the dog is alive at the end of the time, it most assuredly does not have rabies.
 
Angel most assuredly was not symptomatic--she just had developed a distaste for Daisey that cannot be assuaged.

The bite was not a terrible wound--but deep and of course from a dog's mouth.  They put in 4 stitches==loosely to ensure drainage.  Antibiotics and soap and water.

I took Angel to the vet.  We discussed several things, to include an animal behavioralist.  Right now, Angel is on lock down.  She has no freedom.  She is tethered in the kitchen...her place of choice.  You see, prior to having an OCD with Daisey, Angel simply ate, slept and went outside briefly.  She punctuated her normal, sedate, old-dog routine with "I'm gonna kill Daisey" activities.

So far the management of the situation has worked well. Ella goes out with Angel--Ella, my little ambassador.  Daisey goes out another door.  And to her credit is paying more attention to me and my commands so that she does not get in Angel's space.

I have Euro style lead that allows you to configure the lead a multiple of ways.  I actually thought it was a martingale harness, and I'm not sure where I picked it up in my dog rescue travels.  (I didn't buy it).  Nevertheless, I saw one advertised, and I realized I had such a gem.  It is great for tying a dog off quickly in your home as it has a clasp at both ends, and rings through the leash body to clip onto. Zip the lead around a table leg and fasten to a sturdy metal ring.  Fast, effective and strong.

I hope that March is more tame.....