Foot Sore and Fat

Aye Chihuahua! We had quite a day yesterday!

Jan took Chili, Stoker and Ecko with him to run an errand. He stopped to take them for a walk on the way home in a vacant mobile home lot. He has been taking them there for months. The lot is very large and almost fully fenced. All the homes were pulled out and plans were in place to make the property into a residential subdivision with new homes, right up until the economy took a dive... Within minutes after turning them loose, he glanced down to find Stoker glued to his leg and limping badly. She tore the top layer of skin off the pads on both front feet. She did this in a much more minor way a couple of months ago. Not realizing the extent of what she had done, I wasn't too upset about it. After seeing the damage for myself when I got home, I was almost moved to tears.

Poor Stokie is hobbling around with bandaged feet (need to get more vet wrap today) and any plans for taking her to the river to train for water work this weekend are way out the door. This may actually put our efforts to attain her Courier title in jeopardy this summer because I don't know how many days or weeks of training will be lost waiting for Stokie's paws to heal. I doubt Stoker cares about the title, but she will miss her time at the water for a bit.

Upon arriving home, Jan finds that Decker has somehow scaled the kennel run in the garage and escaped. Of course the top was not screwed all the way on the dog food bin and Decker helped himself. The good news is that Bella (who is visiting with us) did not follow him on this adventure. Arriving home from work, I find Decker looking miserable and HUGE through the middle. I immediately became worried about bloat, so kept a close eye on him all evening and slept on the couch where I could monitor him last night. After a night of belching and passing gas, Decker is acting much more cheerful this morning and seems to have come through the experience with nothing more than a tummy ache.