trauma before 6:30 AM

 I had woken up thinking that it was Wednesday and was grumpy when I looked at our digital bathroom clock and was struck with the realization that it was only in fact Tuesday. I had gotten husband up with much ease this morning, usually getting him up involves threats of bodily harm. "He is a trooper" I thought to myself, he gets up and lets the big dogs out for me because sometimes I just can't handle Dots diva tendencies paired with Cooper's special needs.  I was standing in my bra and PJ bottoms at the sink, just about to press the "ON" button on my tooth brush. It was approximately 6:15 when I heard it.

A dog in some serious pain.

I dropped my tooth brush and ran in to our bedroom and threw open the curtains to see an empty back yard. No dogs, No husband, the gut wrenching howling had stopped, I exhaled a sigh of relief and hoped that what ever dog was hurt, they were OK. I mean it couldn't be one of my dogs, Husband was with them and the backyard was vacant."They are probably all laying on couch, lucky dogs."

As I turned to walk back to the bathroom I heard the buzz of my cell phone, it's husband.

Me: Hello?

Husband: I need you, as fast as you can, grab a flash light and come back behind the shed.

I was confused because I had just checked our back yard.

Me:Why?

Husband: One of the dogs is hurt-

I didn't even give him a chance to finish his sentence, I didn't hang up I just threw on a shirt and ran. I held my pregnant belly and thudded down the stairs and hit the ground floor with such force it alerted my mother that something was up.

Mom: What's wrong?

Grabbing flash light, Me: a dog is hurt.

I threw open the door and ran as fast as I could to the farthest corner of our back yard, cursing the damn flash light because I couldn't figure out how to turn it on, WHY CAN'T THERE JUST BE AN ON BUTTON?!?!. I reach the back corner and all the dogs were huddled around husband and the injured one. I knew then why he couldn't tell me which one, it was pitch black and it was one of the black pups.

I steadied the flash light and saw what the injury was, attached to the fence was a strand of loose wire and this pup, while romping had kicked it up and it was now in her eye. My heart sank, and I asked if he could see which dog it was.

It was my Delia.

Everyone in the house had bonded with a different puppy, Delia was mine. Every time I went to pick up a pup it was always her, she was the first puppy to "jail break" out of the whelping box, the first pup to wander in to the living room one night after said jail break. I will never forget hearing her little "hmpfs" as she rounded the corner in to our living room. It took me by complete surprise, and I just asked her "how did you get all the way out here?!" and scooped her up and she cuddled on my chest for the rest of my puppy watch. Dot wasn't too happy when she finally figured it out, she trotted out, ears at attention to the sofa and sniffed her baby with a look of "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?!" I tried to explain to Dot that it was Delia that came out to me, but she would have none of it... we were both grounded in her eyes.  Delia's escapes have escalated in complexity and scale. She would climb out of the rather tall kennel at just 8 weeks and husband or I would find her wandering around the house exploring.  This then led her to climb fences... this one is a little problematic but she is mine all the same. She loves to stand on you and just look all melancholy, if you are petting her she will gently put her paw on your arm and lean back so you can pet her better, she is so thoughtful that way.


She was whimpering and shaking and all I wanted to do was hold her.

Husband: I need you to get wire cutters.

I ran back to the tool box and grabbed the wire cutters and ran back.

She was being such a good girl through this, she sat very still and didn't try to pull away.

Once freed the wire fell to the ground and she ran around like nothing ever happened. The other dogs sniffed her and licked her face wondering what just happened. We got everyone inside and inspected her eye, it looked fine but it was swelling pretty quickly. We grabbed our injured pup and put in her the car and drove to the vet.

Thankfully, her eye was fine but she did puncture the creepy inner eyelid thing (technical term obviously) that dogs have.

After we got her home husband and I both walked the back yard just to double check, and then triple check to make sure nothing else was in the back yard.

We still have no idea where the wire came from and why it was there. From what husband could see in the daylight it had been there for awhile and it was wrapped around our back corner fence post which is blocked by a tree and 2 electrical boxes, hence why we couldn't see it.When this had happened husband had been standing on the deck and saw 2 rabbits dart out from that corner and that is what made the dogs go back there. He wouldn't be surprised if one was tangled in the wire or something.

This incident made me feel like a failure as a fur baby mama but after all is said and done, I have to remind myself it could have been a hell of a lot worse, she is on the mend, and acting like nothing happened so I guess that is a good right?

Here's to hopefully not having to make another emergency vet visit this year.... knock on wood.