And Then What Happened?

It was a glorious day yesterday, weather-wise. So I thought I'd put the dawg outside and run the vacuum downstairs a little. The dust bunnies had reached epic proportions, and it was starting to gross me out a little.

So I put old neutrotic dog on his long cable (8 feet I think) and attached it to the pine tree behind the house. For a little while he was happy, happy. I started vacuuming, and after awhile, I thought I heard something, so I shut it down.

"Awhoo whooo whooooooooo" "Ahh Whoooo whooooo whoooo" Butthead was freaking out that he was outside. It finally occured to him he was alone. Howling. Barking. Whining. I turned the vac back on, and finished the downstairs. Then I went to fetch the Butt before he had a nervous breakdown.

As soon as I stepped outside, he stopped howling, and started wagging his stub. From my vantage point he had mud all over his chest and legs. As soon as I got close to him, I was dismayed that it wasn't mud. It was burrs.

Oh my God. It was only one little burr bush. But he got most of the burrs from the bush on him. And how in a 20 minute span of time, he got those burrs so worked into his coat I'll never know.
I picked off the less embedded ones, but knew I'd have to bring out the big guns to get the rest.

Back into the house to get the sharp shears. He's freaking all over again. Baawhoooooooo....whaaaaahoooooo... Oh for the love of God! Stop! I was inside for 2 minutes! So when I come back out, he's wiggling and jumping and all happy, like I was on the verge of saving him from devils and all things evil.

I made him sit, and started cutting burrs out of his coat. We were going along pretty good, and I got to his chest where there was a massive burr-wad. I'm cutting very carefully behind the burr-wad and I must have pulled the hair a little, and he jumped. I kept cutting, but all of a sudden there is BLOOD on the white hair! Omigod, omigod...I cut the dog. No freaking. I don't freak. So I look, and sure enough right at the point where the big burr wad is firmly attached theres a neat little crescent shaped cut in the skin. I cut all the burrs off the whole area, and finished the job. It was oozing more than flat out bleeding, but the sight of blood on a white area of a dog is really alarming.

So I finished up the rest of the burrs I could see, and we went back inside. He got two bonies for his ordeal, and took to his bed to lick his cut. I feel really, really bad about it. He spent the remainder of the day on his bed, pulling burrs out of his feet and licking his cut. I pondered whether I should call a vet or someone, but the thing wasn't bleeding anymore, and wasn't big enough for stitches. So I just let him do his thing to it. He was a little subdued last night, but this morning he was doing the happy dance to see me, and to go outside, so I guess all is forgiven.

I cut the burr bush down and put it in the burn barrel. I'm NOT doing this again. He's not going to the groomer for his 'summer cut' til Spring. And I'm not running the risk of more burrs and trauma (for me and him) again.