Josey's Woes

In her lifetime, Josey has done battle with ticks and lyme disease, a skunk, several raccoons, and a porcupine. Scars on her nose already made her look like the proverbial junkyard dog. Yesterday, she added another battle to the list.

In a completely uncharacteristic way, she chose to wander into the yard of our neighbor to the south (straight behind our house)--something she has never done before. Then, to top that off, she wandered into their garage, evidently through an open door or a dog door. Therein she encountered the Husky that we have known to be a less than friendly dog, based on its having previously attacked the very small dog belonging to a different, previous neighbor, nearly killing it in the process, when it stepped briefly into the Husky's yard. Ever since, we have been extra cautious when grandkids or our children's small dogs are here to make sure they stay away from that neighbor's yard.

Kathie and I were sitting in our library yesterday morning when we heard a vigorous pounding on one of our sunporch doors. When I opened the door, our clearly upset neighbor was shouting, "Come get your dog! She was in my garage!" Josey was coming up behind her showing lots of red on her ruff and on other areas of her body. Kathie glanced at her and immediately decided to take her to the veterinarian.

Much later in the day, Josey was picked up and returned home. Kathie had tearfully called me from the vet's office to say that she was much worse than anticipated and to warn me that I should expect her not to look very good when she got home. Nearly $1,000 of medical attention found that she had been bitten all across her back, along her stomach and groin area, on each rear leg, across her throat and ears, and into each front armpit area. She has been shaved to expose areas requiring attention and has received lots of stitches, drainage tubes, and antibiotics.

I carried her into the house using her car mat as a kind of sling. Josey hasn't moved very much since, although I think she seems more alert this morning. She wagged her tail when I came downstairs and welcomed the cookie I usually give her first thing each day. Last night, after Kathie went upstairs to bed, Josey even got up to look up the stairs--she clearly wanted to go to bed, as she usually does, and to be with her mistress. However, I prevented her from trying and made a bed for her at the bottom of the steps, where she spent the night.

Here is an idea of some of the damage.

This picture doesn't show much damage, but you can see how she feels.

We don't know what the Husky looks like post-battle, and we trust our neighbor wasn't hurt badly. She said she had a small cut on one hand but that it wasn't a big deal. I believe the Husky may have suffered a bite in one ear. In retrospect, we are glad she was home to put a stop to the dog fight, or we might reporting an even sadder tale about Josey. Although it is true that she has almost never left our yard, we are guilty of having failed to keep her invisible fence collar on her routinely. I think I'll revisit that situation!