Red Tooth in Claw

Yesterday was not my favourite dog day.

I walked Havoc and Kenya over to Remi's, and they pulled in two directions about 40% of the time. Kenya hardly ever pulls any more but she had caught the scent of the coyote and wanted to follow it through people's yards and onto the lake. Havoc meanwhile just wanted to forge ahead. Between the two of them I am dealing with slightly more than my own weight when I walk them, and when we are all going in the same direction it can be wearing because Havoc pulls. On snow-dusted ice surfaces when they don't want to go where I am going, at the pace I am setting, it can be hazardous.

At Remi's I undressed Havoc and Kenya and the three of us went up into the woods. Havoc and Remi spent their entire time wrestling with open mouths. The path is very narrow in places with trees on one side and the stream straight down on the other. In one of these places where there was no escape route they decided to leap straight up in the air beside me and in the process one of Remi's canines pierced me under my left thumb nail. Blood spurted out. It was painful enough for me to cry out, and I felt weak as I herded them all back to Remi's.

I washed the hand and applied a band aid and then gave the dogs their cookies, dressed Kenya and Remi in their collars and put them in the front stairwell while I fed Remi.

The trip back was about as enjoyable as the walk there had been, but this time Kenya realized that I would not put up with her coyote tracking. However; Havoc managed to pull me off my feet once and I landed on my knees on the icy road. By the time I got home the blood had drained out of my face and was throbbing in my thumb tip.

I took Ibuprofen and we all went to bed for an hour.

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful . The dogs played on the lake and I tried to capture with the camera the beauty of black silhouettes on white snow covered ice. (Too far away and my camera and I are not proficient at creating crisp dusk shots)

Just as I finished my supper I got a call from Sarah telling me that Remi had gone across the lake and was knocking on my door.

Sure enough!

He came in and the two puppies played until once again it went a little too far. I am getting better at judging before they cross the line now and pulled Havoc off and settled him in the utility room for a few minutes to cool off. Timeouts work as well for dogs as they do for kids, I have discovered.

Then Dan and Sarah arrived to pick up Remi. They left and we all settled down again.

Ten minutes later Remi and Sarah were back. Dan was stuck. Did I have a shovel and sand or gravel?

About an hour later I took Havoc and Kenya for a walk down to the mailboxes. Dan's car was still there. Turns out they had to call CAA because my shovel won't work on ice.

When Kenya, Havoc and I went to bed for the night at 9, my thumb was still throbbing.

I have trouble dealing with the whole concept of red in tooth and claw which seems to be the governing force in the lives of young male dogs.

But I have even more trouble with the reality of having a tooth jammed under my own bloody claw.