Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

My dog chases cars. I hate that. He started by following the neighbors dog when she chased the school bus. I've done everything I could think of to break him. But, twice a day, Monday through Friday, he tears off after it.

Rocky is only 15 months old and not street wise like the other dog--his mentor so-to-speak. She runs in the ditch. He runs in front of the bus. You see my concern.

Then he began chasing Harleys, cyclists in full cycling gear, loud monster trucks and kids on horses. Well, he didn't actually chase the horses, just tormented them from the sidelines.

The inevitable happened. Rocky is a beautiful dog. And, a super great guard dog of chickens and goats. He lives up to his ancestral Anatolian name.

Here he is last week--note the long beautiful tail.

Saturday evening FarmBoy and I heard a dog whelp and cry; we went to the door and Rocky was running as fast as he could toward us away from the road. Neighbor's dogs still in the road and a pickup truck was backing up the road. We knew one of the dogs had been hit.

By the time FarmBoy got his shoes on the truck had driven on, neighbor's dogs disappeared and Rocky was in the back yard still barking furiously.

Upon inspection Rocky is covered in blood and it's difficult to tell just how badly he is hurt. Now, when I say inspection I mean a good ten feet away as Rocky won't let anyone near him.

By Sunday morning Rocky had calmed down and let me examine the damage. His leg wound was deep but not large. But, the tail is ruined. A good twelve inches is nothing but bone and bleeding. He had left six or seven inches of hair and a tiny bit of tail in the road where we think the truck applied his brakes and skidded on the tail.

I doctored him with my herbal farm vet kit and worried that all of that exposed bone would surely invite infection. He wouldn't let me near him after that prefering to take care of it himself.

I wondered if it would be better to cut the tail off rather than take a chance of something more serious invading the wound. I was going to call the vet this morning but nature or Rocky himself took care of the situation: the entire exposed tail is gone.

This morning the bus came right on schedule--it was barely daylight. Rocky laid in his usual spot. I watched. Would he or wouldn't he?

He perked up his head, let out one disinterested whoof and laid it back down. Let's pray that attitude prevails after he is feeling up to par.

He went up the mountain with me and the goats as is our usual morning ritual and he had eaten all his food (laden with echinacea) this morning--both good signs of recovery.

Half a tail is a small price to pay for a life saving lesson. Let's hope he always remembers it.