Monday, September 13, 2010

World's Worst Mom

Me. I feel like the world's worst dog mom.


You all know my problem child, Bailey. She has a totally different personality than any of her siblings. Bailey is a hunter. She spends all her outdoor time hunting. She has caught a bird, several lizards, a couple frogs, a squirrel and a skunk. She's always the last one inside and we often have to leash her to persuade her to leave her hunt and join us indoors.

Friday morning Rob left early for a business meeting. I got up, started a pot of coffee, gave the dogs their meds and took everyone outside. The problem started when it was time to go back in.


Everyone came except Bailey. I left them all in the garage and went out with a leash to get Bailey who was hunting in the weeds around the rock pile. When I leashed her and started toward the house, I saw that she had been in some burrs. Bailey can find burrs that no one else can find. Rob and I pull the plants out and destroy them, but Bailey will find more. All summer I've been pulling burrs out of her coat.


Friday she had burrs in both front legs, her chest, her face and one ear.

I went inside and got a comb and scissors and started removing the burrs. I got the ones in her chest and the side of her face. Her ear was folded back with a big bunch of burrs wrapped around it. I started cutting them away when she jerked to look at something.


I continued working, then noticed that I had a hand full of blood. Bailey hadn't made a sound, but my hand and arm were covered with blood and it was running down her neck and chest. I had cut her ear flap.



I know from personal experience that ears have a lot of tiny blood vessels close to the surface and they bleed like crazy. A barber cut my earlobe once and I thought it would never stop bleeding. I led Bailey into the garage, snarled at the other dogs to get back and they knew from my tone of voice that they'd better do it. I grabbed the styptic powder and poured it on the cut. The bleeding stopped.

I put Bailey in her crate, took care of the other dogs, then went back to check on her. Since the bleeding seemed to have stopped, I put her in the doggy bathtub and washed the blood out of her coat. Then I washed her ear with Betadine solution. I got a good look at the cut. She has a little notch in her ear flap.

I coated the cut liberally with antibiotic ointment, gave her a Rimadyl for pain and put her back in her crate with several cookies.

I wanted a cup of coffee badly, but since I looked like an accident victim, I headed for the shower instead. Rob returned home while I was in the shower. I told him about the incident, so he changed into old clothes and we went to check on Bailey. She was fine, happy to see us. We took her outside and she bounced around. That afternoon the cut began to bleed again, so we repeated the steps I'd taken earlier.

Bailey spent the weekend in solitary in her crate. She enjoyed it because she got lots of individual attention. On Saturday we got a good look at the cut and decided she didn't need stitches. We've been coating it with antibiotic ointment each day.


Bailey is doing well today and got to rejoin her sisters for play. They sniffed her ear, then walked away. The cut appears to be healing well, but I can't help feeling like a really bad mom to have hurt my pup. She knows I would never intentionally hurt her, but I felt crummy all weekend.

26 comments:

Scrabblequeen said...

Oh! I know just how terrible that bad mom feeling is...sadly, from personal experience. Take your cue from Bailey, and don't be too hard on yourself.

Kerry said...

Oh noo! I hate it when something like this happens; we nicked Eddy's ear once and he loudly told us about it when it happened, but it hardly bled at all. I've been told that cornstarch is as good as styptic powder...is this true?

booahboo said...

Its really not your fault Sue... don't feel bad because accidents do happen sometimes. Even my groomer have sort of cut dommy unintentionally while grooming him because Dommy moved. It happens. But you were great to stop the bleeding real fast. Don't worry too much about it ya.. our doggies are very forgiving and they are troopers.

I don't know where Dommy finds burrs too... he could come back with an ouch ouch ouch sometimes.. burrs and him go hand in hand too.

have a good day ahead ya!

Molly the Airedale said...

You didn't do it on purpose but mom knows just how you felt. She's cut toenails too short before and it's a horrible feeling thinking that you hurt your best friend and they trusted you! We're glad to hear that all is okay now!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Rocky Creek Scotties and Rocky Creek Ramblings said...

Accidents happen - and Bailey understands that.

Dexter said...

I understand that confession is good for the soul. And I have no doubt you feel awful. Poor little pup. But you know ears bleed a lot even with the most superficial wound so hopefully all will be well in no time. Perhaps Miss Thing can rethink her choice of places to explore.

Slobbers,
Mango

Lola and also Franklin, too said...

Oh, these things do happen from time to time. An apology, some extra treats and all is forgiven. Actually, all would be forgiven anyway, because we're dogs and that's what we do, but it's nice to have the treats and attention, too.

lotsa licks, Lola

Maxmom said...

Hey there Sue...
From the sounds of it,you are anything BUT a bad doggie mom! I admire your logical thinking and keeping your head about you in a crisis. These accidents happen - afterall, the dogs need grooming and we are bound to make mistakes. Be gentle on yourself.
Sending lotsaluv and we are glad that Bailey is on the mend.
MAXMOM IN SA

Maggie Mae and Max said...

Accidents happen. Bailey is fine and you did everything right fur her, how is dat bad? No way is youz a bad mom...I tinks youz a great dog mom. :)

WOofs and Licks,
Maggie Mae

BlogDog said...

Glad that Bailey is alright. It's just an accident, so don't feel bad about it. You did very good at handling that, if it's me, I might went panic.. :P

Bing&Ben
adoptedmutts.blgospot.com

♥I am Holly♥ said...

It was an accident and at least Bailey is fine!! My groomer has done that with different dog. I know how easy it is to do at the ear especially. You did good! Lots of love, Debbie and Holly

SissySees said...

MJ saw the blood and I brought her up to speed. She did the same to one of her female shelties, long ago. Penny never would let her come near with scissors again, but stuff happens!

The Knight keeps styptic powder on hand for toenail accidents too, not that he ever has any... The man really has a touch for doggy paw-dicures.

H Ski said...

I'm glad everybody is ok. It is probably one of those things where it looks worse than it is. And Bailey was probably just happy to get them off too.

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Awww, don't beat yourself up about it, we bet it was a nasty squirrel that made her snap her head on you. On the other hand, look at what a good mom you are to take such good care of her injury. Glad it turned out not to be anything more serious.

Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

Patience-please said...

Ears are a booger! The whippets with their nekkid ear flaps used to catch them on stickers when they'd run in the woods. Then every time they'd shake their heads, they'd start bleeding all over again.
Sounds like you get an A++++++ for nursing! Accidents happen, that's all.

Dianne said...

Don't feel bad, Sue. Our mommy has done stuff like that to us, but we still love her and I'm sure your gang still loves you, too!!!

Emma, Tara and Cooper

gMarie said...

Oh sweetie. You didn't do it on purpose and Bailey won't hold it against you - dogs are good like that. Now you need to forgive youself and just love her. g

Lapdog Creations said...

Oh no! I'm glad to hear it sounds like she's doing better...... I bet that was really scary for Mom!

Marjie said...

And it's precisely because you felt so badly that you are a good Mom. Bailey looks happy there with her monkey. She knows you'll be more careful next time she plays in the burrs.

Mad about Craft said...

Poor doggy, poor you!!

the many Bs said...

poor Bailey. we've seen ear injuries and we know how bloody they are. the human even nicked Baxter's ear once when she was grooming him. he didn't cry at all either.

don't beat yourself up too badly for it. we think those ear things look much worse than they really are. i, Bailey, am just recovering from an ear bite that i received at our dog park.

that's kind of funny - we're both Bailey's and we both had ear booboos. woowoowoowoowoowoo

woofs.

Zona said...

Aww... accidents happen and Bailey seems to not have even noticed! It's not what happens but how you react to it some two-leggers say and you reacted to it like a GREAT mom!!!

Hugs to you and Bailey!

Wags,
Zona

Persephone and Buster said...

ouchy ouchy!!! ms.bailey was very stoic...our uncle clancey got a bite on his ear and it bled like that...course he shook his head and the humans found blood on the ceiling and way across the room...
don't worry sue.. ms bailey probably thought one of the burrs pinched her.. she's made of tough stuff! she will be fine and dandy after she gets all the treats alotted to her for being injured in action!
theBUSTER, Ms.Persephone, Ms. Blue & grrrrracie too

Nicki said...

Glad you got the bleeding stopped-they can really be gushers. Once when I was trimming Lyric's feet with scissors, I cut her pad. Accidents happen!

parlance said...

I think it might be a bit like teaching little children, which I did for years and years. They, also, are incredibly forgiving.

I must get those things for our home first-aid kit.

Stella said...

Once a friend implored me to cut her hair (no pro!) and she handed me a pair of old dull scissors, I said these are not gonna cut much of anything, as I snipped her hair and earlobe at the same time. She yelped but forgave.
Then 30 years later, I cut Otis the Scottie on his ear. He, on the other hand, used to run when he saw me with scissors. No forgiveness there!

Cheers,
Jo