When play can turn to a emergency?

Roughhousing, whether it's a pet or a teenager, can sometime lead to an emergency...

Last weekend, when I was petting Lily, our 1 year old female Toy Aussie, she winced when my hand touched the side of her rib cage.

I began to investigate when I noticed a huge bump on her side. I separated her hair a little, to have a better look when I discovered a "hole" in her side.

My wife and I got out the Hydrogen Peroxide and cleaned the wound as best we could. We noticed quite a bit of swelling around the wound so we monitored it closely the rest of the night!

When we woke up Sunday morning, we had talked about her "not being herself". As a dog owner, you can get this feeling by knowing your dogs' temperament, and she was definitely telling us something wasn't right.

We got her in the car and preceded to the local Emergency Pet Hospital, to have someone check her out as well as sooth my wife's feelings about taking care of business.

After 30 minutes, the vet came out of the examination room, to tell us that as soon as they touched the swelling, puss just started to ooze out of the wound. They opened it up a little more to allow drainage, and told us she will be fine. The size of the wound indicated a bite wound, probably from Koda, her male Toy Aussie mate.

When they play out back, their exchanges can be sometimes rough and tumble. We have seen aggression, in a play atmosphere, where each one takes a turn chasing the other, until contact has been made.

It's been 1 week, and with warm compresses and antibiotics, she is healing quite well, and it appears the damage affected my wife and me more than it did the dogs.

I did go outside, cut a Aloe Vera leaf from my prized cactus, and applied the gel to the wound, to help expedite the 'sealing' over, or scabbing.

I took Lily to our own vet 3 days after the emergency run, and was told she is healing quite well. He did warn me that with the rains we have had recently, we should be experiencing the 1st outbreak of flies and to make sure that they don't land on her open wound, we should cover it loosely with a t-shirt. Well, I am a big guy and she is all of 14 lbs. and 12" tall, so would walk right out of my clothing. I called my wife and asked for any suggestions on what to do. She and her work friend, told me to go to the dollar store and look for infant clothing.

And, Koda approved of her new look...

So, off to the dollar store I went. I found a neat little baby sleeper for infants 9 months to 1 year old, that looked the correct size for her. Oh, it was also pink, just so she knew I respected her femaleness...

So, dogs play rough, no matter the size, and be ready to sometimes have an experience that might require professional help.

Exercising the dogs and myself

This is just a reminder that your dogs need to be exercised regularly as well as yourself. My dogs, all 5 of them, look forward to their run every morning, and almost mope if they don't get to go...

Here in the desert, after all the rain we have recently gotten, has made the ground soft and green, with all the wild grass and flowers blooming right now.

Miss Lily, bounds all over the place, jumping over small ditches and over small bushes. She almost looks like she  is flying, as she develops her herding skills.

Koda, on the other hand, is still pursuing the small birds that hide among all those small bushes. He loves to chase, and this is the perfect place to let him r-u-n!!!

The other 3 big dogs I have, all experienced in the 'run', do what they always do - find a hole to dig at, hoping for a small rodent to go after. 99 out of 100 attempts just allows them to get dirty and to bark at me to come and see what they have done! If I let them, their holes can almost be as big and deep as their bodies, with mud and wet dirt all over them. Even smiling, I can see dirty mouths until we get back home and they drink water.

Since our 30 minutes of serious fun time helps relieve stress, increases their hunger and allows them to nap throughout the day, it also helps them burn some of their winter fat off - which is why its also good for us as well. I am losing weight and feeling good about my morning walk as well...

So, I think its good for ALL of us.... just start doing it!