I feel full disclosure on the blog is a necessity, so it would just be wrong if I swept this under the rug. Last Sunday, G$ and I were at the Shirlington dog park with K-Man. It was late morning and our plan was to poop him out earlier in the day since we had two softball games that afternoon - one at 2pm and another at 6pm, with a barbecue at teammate's place in between.
We had done a lap and were down at the creek near the main entrance where there are not usually many (or any) dogs since the water is shallow and not ideal for swimming. It was G$, Kairo, and I down there. We threw some sticks for Kairo and he ran through the creek chasing them. G$ had recently emailed a few folks on the softball team with an article about throwing like a girl. G$ threw a rock down the creek and then I tried to throw it as close to the spot his rock hit the water as I could. I threw a couple, then moved to a different spot on the shore to get better footing. Knowing that I sometimes have a loose cannon when it comes to throwing (i.e. I have been known to release super low and the ball/stick/whatever I'm throwing goes nowhere near my target), before each throw, I made sure I knew where Kairo was, so there was no chance he was anywhere near where I was aiming. I picked up another rock about the size of tennis ball, but more oblong to try again. I released the rock and was met by Kairo letting out the most high-pitched whine I have ever heard. And he was not putting any pressure on his front left leg. Oh.my.goodness. I nailed Kairo with the rock. I could not believe it. I think what had happened was that since I was checking to see where he was, he was the last place I look before I threw the rock. Seriously, had I been trying to hit him (which, let me be clear, I was not), there is no chance I'd come close.
G$ and I called Kairo over to the shore (the "incident" occurred while he was standing in the middle of the creek). He hobbles over to us and still is not putting pressure on his leg. I'm in tears, clutching Kairo saying, "I'm so sorry" over and over again. We had no idea where on his leg I hit him, since both of us only saw the splash of the rock as it hit the water. We contemplated carrying him out of the dog park, but I was convinced it was just something he had to walk off and he'd be better in no time. He hobbled out of the dog park himself, I helped him into the car, and we headed home for a bit before softball. Later that evening, we took him for a short walk and I was convinced his limp is getting better and that he'd wake up Monday morning perfectly fine - kind of how things played out when we thought he tore his ACL.
Kairo woke up in the middle of the night and struggled to get down the stairs. After he was about half way down, I tried to pick him up and he yelped in pain. Great - my hopes of having him wake up healed were shot. But with his yelp, I was able to figure out that the rock hit him higher up on his leg, and that it wasn't his foot, toes, or ankle region that was stuck.
G$ called the vet when he got into work to schedule an appointment. We were able to get the last appointment of the day, at 11:40. G$ picked me up at work and we headed to the appointment and explained the situation to the vet. I'm of course, once again a crying mess. She did her examination and since he was so tender at the location of impact (his humerus bone), she was concerned and recommended doing an x-ray now, rather than waiting another day or two as she normally would. We left him at the vet and headed back to work. I was still a mess - could I really have thrown the rock hard enough to break his bone?!?! But luckily since I had told the story so many times to coworkers, I was now able to say it without with tears. Yes, embarrassing, I know...
Around 1pm, I received a call from the vet - muuuch sooner than expected - and she had good news. No broken bones! HURRAY!!! She was prescribing him pain/anti-inflammatory meds. But... she said for the next week Kairo should only go outside to use the bathroom, no playing, no long walks, nothing. Greeeeaaaat... he's a high energy breed and needs exercise; otherwise, he becomes a jumping, over-excited crazy dog. This will be a fun, daycare-free week for us! But I kept looking on the bright side - what a relief, no broken bones. I wasn't even sure what they would have done had his bone been broken, but I can only imagine the recovery would be even longer, so I am just so glad that it didn't come to that.
After the first two days on the meds, he seemed to be fine, so we took him off the meds and his limp stayed away. Saturday we went hiking and after a 3.8 mile loop, he still was not limping. And today we visited "the scene of the crime" and he chased dogs, was chased by dogs, and even went down to the creek. All is good. Phew! What a relief!
Needless to say, I have been the butt of numerous rock and animal cruelty jokes both at home, with family, and at work. But, I certainly deserve it, since accident or not, I did hit my dog with a rock.
While at the dog park this evening, G$ was able to get this photo taken:
<3
K$
