Our house has an elevated walk constructed like a deck that leads to the front door. It’s about 20 feet long and nice and wide. It’s a great place for the dogs to lie in the sun and bark at foxes. But Zeke is a wanderer, he roams around, around, around, and he’s happy as a clown. So we got a really nice, decorative, steel gate to curb his enthusiasm. It was not cheap. Zeke was happy for a while. Although apparently not as happy as a clown, so he figured out that he could climb over the fence and he’s the type of dog that likes to wander around.
Last Tuesday at around 8 pm he climbed the fence and disappeared. A neighbor told us she saw him running that-a-way, but we had to go to the phamarcy for glaucoma eyedrops for Zoe (the son of Satan), so we couldn’t look for him. After we got Zoe’s eyedrops (I certainly hope he looks better after using them; they’re expensive.) I saw Zeke lying at his ease in the neighbor’s yard. I got a leash and went after him. He took off. I called and told him “No!” in what I thought was a convincing tone of voice. He looked at me over his shoulder and continued on his way. I followed. hobbling along kind of like Chester on Gunsmoke, but by the time I got around the curve of the road, there was no sign of Zeke.
Around 10:30 he eventually dragged his sorry *** back into the yard. And then we noticed that the side of his face and his upper right shoulder were covered with blood. Oh, great, I thought, he’s killed the fox. Our good neighbor Allie called and asked about him because she saw the blood and was worried. I got about five gallons of warm water (Not the hose with cold well water. I’m a good dog owner, aren’t I?) and started washing blood off. No sign of injury, so that was good. And then he shook his head, and blood started dripping onto the driveway. There was a lot of blood. It almost soaked a big handful of paper towels, and then another. I finally found the wound. If you looked carefully with a flashlight, you could just see a slight abrasion along the edge of his ear. I wouldn’t have believed it could bleed so much.
So we applied an adhesive bandage.
Zeke recovering with bandage, not chastened, with peanut butter bong
Zeke is a good dog in most ways …
That does sound like a lot of blood for a smallish abrasion. Glad it wasn’t anything too traumatic. I think dogs just get a bit of wanderlust every now and then. Something must have smelled really good somewhere!
PS– I responded on Dharma Bums to your inquiry about the number of kittens we’re seeing. But just in case you don’t see it: We are only seeing two. Haven’t seen the largest kitten, the gray one. It is not easy seeing clearly under the deck, but every time we’ve looked, it’s only been the little black one and the siamese looking one.
Zeke’s problem, or our problem with Zeke, is that wanderlust is a constant state for him. He’s the first dog I’ve ever had that I couldn’t simply walk outside with off the leash; he has to be on the leash at all times or he will light out for the territory.