Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Disastrous, Not-Good, Quite Unpleasant, Yet Very Remarkable Day


Shiloh's Murphy of Vista Real - Jack Russell Terrier (before)
Recently recovered from surgery to remove the hardware from my repaired elbow, I was very happy to be back to work! In the early morning of my fourth day back, I walked my Staffy (Hoss) before leaving for work ..... and, well, let's just say: that was the beginning of a disastrous, not-good, quite-unpleasant, yet very remarkable day!

My daughter, HisGirl, did a wonderful job of reporting the morning's catastrophes. Hop on over, catch up, have a little laugh on me. While you're there, shout out a little howdy to my firstborn child, favorite and only daughter!

CAUTION: Below, I am about to show pictures of my poor little "Frankendoggie" with stitches. They are not too graphic. These were taken about halfway through his recovery. If it creeps you out too much - don't click on the small picture! If not, be my guest: you can see how close my Murphy came to losing his life! I actually didn't catch all the injuries in the pics either!


I can't totally blame Sadie (the fawn boxer), for attacking Murphy. As typical of his breed, our little JRT doesn't know he is a small dog (shhh). He chose to do the attacking and not back down. I actually think they were both fiercely trying to protect me. All of my "pack" circled around me when I was on the ground - they KNEW I was hurt. Both of these dogs are very possessive of me too! I do blame her for not letting go, when I commanded her. She would NOT call off! She was determined to finish that vicious little varmint off. Really scary and tramatic, it was! Surreal now.

Sadie is going to need special care and caution from now on. I have no doubt that she will do Murph in, if she gets another chance. Because, of course, Murphy still wants to show her that he is the Ranch Boss! He strutted over to the walk-in kennel and growled at her as soon as he got out of the hospital! The boy obviously has no discernment or wisdom, but he does have grit!

Sadie is so sweet and gentle with our little Rattie (Ricochet); they are best-friend play-partners! Quite a couple, I might add! They really are playing gently with one another in the picture, and they make all sorts of weird moaning sounds, as they mouth each other ... odd doggies! However, now I do not completely trust her, even with him. She is very gentle, cuddly and affectionate with the grandchildren, of course they are 9-14 now. I would not now want her around small children, just in case. :/
Any ranch-readers out there with similar experiences? I could sure use help with this situation! I don't want to pass this beautiful boxer-girl on to a 3rd home, if I can avoid it. You may have read that I rescued Sadie from a shelter about a year ago. Click here for background stories on most of the Ranch Hounds. I now have to manage many shift changes, so the 2 guilty parties are never allowed physical access to one another. Grrrr.

Murphy looks and feels SO much better now. *BIG sigh* He will always have a lump on his throat, to remind us. :) But he is back to his old grumpy, bossy self! Hallelujah!

OK, the GOOD news in all of this!

~ Thanks to Hoss' warning, I did catch Sadie just in the nick of time.

~ Thanks to God, I was able to pull her off of Murphy, in my "crippled" state.
~ Thanks to God, their was no crowd in the doggie ER.

~ Thanks to Amber, she got Murph right in, while I waited in the car!
~ Thanks to God, no crowd in the human ER either (a very rare event out here)! WE were in and out with x-rays and the whole shot in less than 2 hours!!!! MIRACULOUS!!!
~ Thanks to God, Amber got to make all of her appointments in perfect time.
~ Though a wanky way, I was able to be home with Murphy to treat his wounds.
~ Though not too mobile, I have been able to be home (which I LOVE) and get lots of rest ... yummm!

~ AND ... shhhh ... I was able to go to my son's wedding in Las Vegas and spend quality time with both of my grandsons, individually! I will catch you up on our adventures on Shiloh Ranch Ramblings soon!
~ MAJOR props to God for using my precious children to take such good care of me, throughout all of this debacle! They sacrificed their time and resources to help us when we so needed it, without even grumbling! Thank you kiddos, I love you more than you know!

PS: I get to go back to work tomorrow!!!! HURRAY? Yes, hurray for His provision; it has been lean around here! lol ... not me of course, I am the opposite of lean, after laying around so much. It will be good for me to get back to work. :)

~ So all in all, it was, indeed, a very remarkable day with a very remarkable outcome and a great story to boot!!! ~
I know I am taking this Scripture out of context (which I do not recommend for doctrine)
but it seems so fitting for this post:

" ... they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you;
for I am with you to save you and deliver you,"says the LORD.
"I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible. ..."
~Jeremiah 15:20-21~