Little Update

Someone is very itchy right now. When I got out of the shower this morning Ruby was hiding in bed looking very guilty. She had her e-collar on so I couldn't figure out what she did at first. Well...she can reach the wound with her back foot and had been scratching it. She managed to pull out one of her staples. It's not one that I'm worried about as there is another staple that looks like it's about to fall out too. She's all red today though because of her scratching.

If you look at the picture below you can see a dime-sized black spot. I'm fairly certain that black skin is dead and will eventually fall off like a scab. Yeah, I know, GROSS!!! There isn't any hair growing there either and her hair is coming back in everywhere else. Anyway the loose staple is also on some of the black skin but it's on the edges where the vet brought the laceration together. I'm sure this dead stuff will fall off too. I don't even want to think about how disgusting that is. Kind of reminds me of that Sex in the City episode where Miranda's baby's umbilical cord falls off and the cat is playing with it! I wouldn't put it past Cougar...

A Little Better

Ruby is at work with me again today. You'd never guess something horrible happened to her looking at this picture.

The drain tube has been out for two days now and everything seems to be healing well. The bruising has almost disappeared. I've been putting Traumeel gel on the bruised parts as well as giving the pills to her orally twice a day. Her spirits are up and she's typically been her normal happy self, at least with people, though she has been sleeping a lot. She's only been around two other dogs since the incident, one being her BFF Libby and it was like nothing had happened. Ruby saw Shenille at the office for the first time today and only seemed a little strange when Shenille tried to smell her side as she approached her a bit quickly.

The red squarish hole is from the drain tube. The vet said that it would just close up on it's own, though it looks like it could use a stitch or two. She has also been jumping into the back of the car on her own so it must not be bothering her that much. As Polly said, it's amazing how quickly these dogs recover!

Quick Update

Hi Everyone - Thank you for all your concerned emails and well wishes for a speedy recovery for Ruby. We really appreciate it. The vet took the drain tube out last night and said that she is healing very nicely. The staples will come out on the 28th. Of course she had lots of kisses for the vet! :) In the meantime I have contacted the dark haired woman that owns two Ridgebacks and am packing for our move.

Ruby didn't come to work with me today as her dad (my ex-husband) decided that he would step up to the plate and take care of her for me today. He had wanted to see her before she and I moved out of the city and he just felt horrible when he heard what happened. She was very excited to see her dad and explore her old home. Thanks Al!

I spoke with Bob Olson about her accident and he said that he could offer me a partial refund for my entry fees for the Smack-Dab trial. One of the great things about dog people, they totally understand and always offer to help if you need it. :)

A Random Act of Violence

As most of my closest friends know, Ruby was attacked this past Friday evening at the Montrose Dog Beach. We were meeting Ruby's BFF Libby and her mom Hallie there after work on Friday night. Due to Cubs game traffic we were both late getting to the beach and I beat Hallie there by about ten minutes. I was going to wait in the car until Hallie got there but Ruby was squawking in her crate because she could smell the lake so I decided to get her out and just wait near the entrance for them.


She ran around me in big circles barking and wanting to play and I can't figure out why but I had this weird uncomfortable feeling. I tried to shake it off and told her to go to the bathroom and she did. As I was getting a poop bag out of my purse she took off across the beach at high speed to go run in the water. I didn't really think anything of it as she does it all the time because she loves to swim in the lake. As I reached down to pick up her poop I saw her pass a huge Rhodesian Ridgeback on her way to the water. He lunged at her and I heard her yelp. She immediately ran over to a woman with a schnauzer who was standing nearby and the lady patted her side and told her it was okay. Meanwhile the Ridgeback had put his ears back, his tail went between his legs and he went to find his owner.


I called Ruby to me as I don't like her that far away from me unsupervised but she wouldn't come. I called her a couple more times and finally she came running to me but as she approached I could tell something was wrong. I called her to my side and I saw a huge flap of skin torn from her side. I immediately picked her up as I didn't want her getting any sand in the wound and walked over to the woman with the Ridgeback. Turns out that she has two, one was on leash & the the other was the one that bite Ruby. I told her that her dog just bite my dog and she replied "That isn't like him." Then she offered to drive me to the vet in her Dodge Durango. I wasn't about to get in a truck with her two dogs and my injured dog so I told her that she had done enough and carried Ruby out of the beach.


At that point Hallie had arrived (thank GOD!), quickly assessed the situation and said, "We're going to the vet right now, give me your keys, I'll drive." Of course we were stuck in some residual Cubs traffic and typically bad Friday night traffic but managed to get to Jewell Animal Hospital fairly quickly. It was the closest vet nearby and they took her in immediately and gave her a shot for pain. The vet had to take care of his other patients first but concentrated on Ruby as soon as he could. I think he did a great job as he had to put her under to clean the wound, insert a drain tube and staple her together. He then gave her another shot to get her back up and she was wobbly but on her feet fairly quickly.


She was still really out of it but $506 and 2 1/2 hours later we loaded Libby back in my car, Hallie drove back to the beach to get her car while I held Ruby on my lap. Hallie got in her car with Libby and I put Ruby in her crate in the back of my car. She cried the whole way home even though I drove carefully & tried not to hit any potholes.

Sorry about the quality of this picture. It was right after I got her home and her eyes where still really dilated from the anesthesia so I didn't want to use the flash. She cried all night Friday night so neither of us got much sleep.

Here's a close-up of the wound on Saturday morning. 18 staples and a drain tube. Lovely.

Saturday afternoon Ruby's appetite returned and she was moving around a little better. I decided to take a quick shower and someone decided that her lidocaine patches were yummy.

Here's the naughty girl wearing her stylish Elizabethan collar:

And a close up of her wound. You can really see the bruising here:

She's on an antibiotic and two pain meds, Rimadyl and Tramadol. She gets her drain tube out this evening and the staples will come out in another 7 to 11 days. Needless to say we will also be missing the Smack-Dab trial in addition to missing Plano and Dock Diving this past weekend.

I'd like to thank everyone who heard about what happened to Ruby for the concerned phone calls and text messages. It really means a lot to us. And especially thanks to Hallie for being there for me. :)

My Beautiful Girl

Here's a picture of Ruby hanging at the office with me last Thursday. She wasn't supposed to come to the office with me but when I went to drop her off at daycare on the way into work I was informed by the staff that they were not accepting dogs for daycare due to a kennel cough outbreak in Chicago. (!!!) Sure would have been nice to have gotten an email or phone call from them before hand. Oh well.

Northwest Agility Trial Weekend

Wow! What a long weekend! There were some ups and downs but it ended well.

Friday was a VERY long day. Ruby and I NQ'd in Standard but had a very nice run. Jumpers was a little tricky and there were some pitfalls that I didn't see so we ended up with 3 off-courses. Yikes! FAST was nice but I knew that we wouldn't get the tough send portion. So we were 0 for 3 on Friday.

Saturday was a little better. We had a little problem in Standard with missing our a-frame contact and some problems on the table (naughty girl didn't want to stay) but I think we've got them worked out. She had a beautiful run in Jumpers taking 4th place and earning 11 MACH points.

On Sunday our Standard run was a train wreck. Ruby was feeling a little full of herself and didn't hold her start line. She got her weave entry only to pop between the 3rd and 4th pole. I put her in to redo them and she popped at ten to blow me off and run into the wrong side of the tunnel. I put her in the correct side to continue our run and told myself that if she didn't hold her dog walk contact I was going to pull her. She held it however and we finished the remainder of the course.

Ruby didn't get any treats for her horrible behavior and we had a long talk back at her crate. She was much better in Jumpers and qualified again earning 8 MACH points. At this rate I think we'll have our MXJ before we get our AX. *sigh*

I had another interesting thing happen. The judges took a very long time to get the ribbons done, so Cindy and I went to get something to eat and then came back to continue our long wait. She took Madison outside to potty and I went out to find her. What do I see when I walk out the door but a handsome little Kooiker puppy! Rennen - which means 'smooth running' in Swedish - just turned a year old. His owner Helen and I talked at length about him and it turns out that the breeder in Sweden that I've been talking to is very close friends with Rennen's breeder. Helen and I exchanged contact information and she is very excited that I may be getting a Kooiker puppy.

And FINALLY a BIG congratulations to Cindy and Madison for their first Double Q on Sunday. Great job you guys!