Accidents happen

Last night, Tulip was involved in a bad accident at the dog park. It involved a game of fetch, a log and a pack of dogs. Somehow, our little munchie found herself on the receiving end of the log being launched into the air, and, well….you know the sound of a baseball getting knocked out of the park by a wooden baseball bat? Imagine that sound, against the puppy’s head. It was terrifying.

Even more horrible were her puppy cries; after the hit she cried and ran straight to us and continued to cry in pain for a good three minutes. That is a long time. We could tell that she had been hit on the right side of her face, as it had already swelled up considerably and her skin under her fur was red and broken.

Imagine this:


And this:

On this face:

After we got her calmed down slightly (and ourselves calmed down) we decided we absolutely had to take her to the vet. As we were carrying her off the levy (excuse me, the LEVEE), she sort of lifted her head up, waggled her tail a bit from between her legs and through the swollen, lopsided face gave us her best goofy puppy grin. The grin that says, “I want to play!” She’s a tough one, our Tulip.

Things got really hairy at the vet’s office, when she starting bleeding from her nose. I thought for sure at this point she was dunzo, because on Grey’s Anatomy, when patients start bleeding from noses, eyes, ears, etc, things are looking pretty grim for them. The vet was very concerned about her, but decided that the blunt trauma to her face was causing the bleeding, not brain damage. He gave her medicines and a shot for the pain and instructed us to keep her as quiet as possible, with a follow up scheduled for the next day (today).

Following the vet visit, we made a stop at Petco, to stock up on some soft, yummy treats to spoil her with. (Because, to add insult to injury, Tulip is teething right now and losing teeth left and right. She has several loose teeth in her mouth and she is clearly in pain when chewing things – us, treats, her food, anything.) So we stocked up on Snausages, puppy beef jerky chews and puppy Oreo cookies. (Yes, really.) The rest of the night, all she had to do was give us a wink from that bleeding, pouffy eye (not hard, as it was swollen shut) and we would shower her with kisses and treats.

The little miss is still down but most definitely not out. I love her resilience and how much she just wants to get back out there and run and play – even though something bad happened last time. It’s a good reminder for me to not let the memory of pain or hurt stop me from trying new things or trying failed things again, and most importantly, to never, ever give up.

And that an Oreo every now and then really can make things better.