Don't be fooled, this halo is not adorned by an angel...

Not an angel

Well, I think we all knew that it was just a matter of time for Roxy, our 8 month-old Llewellin Setter to do some sort of bodily harm to herself. She is a pistol, obstinate and energetic. This is a perfect recipe for an accident waiting to happen.

Tuesday evening I was at a class until 7:00 pm and Mark was home making dinner. Mark let the dogs out to go to the bathroom. Mingo stays in the yard ever since he somehow managed to wrap his tail around a tree (yeah, we still haven't figured that one out), but Roxy scampers up into the woods behind our house and does her poopin' duties up on the hill. Mark called the hounds back in, and they both returned without incident. Mark then went upstairs to finish dinner and about 45 minutes or so later I came home.

Sympathy?

I knew something was wrong when only Mingo greeted me at the door; but I just figured Roxy was in a room that she shouldn't be in or chewing something she shouldn't chew (such as the pocket of my new North Face jacket which she wrecked the night before). Much to my surprise, Roxy slowly came out of Mingo's kennel. When I went to pet her, she starting crying and shaking uncontrollably. For good reason: She had what looked like a huge gash on her front right side (bad enough where you could see the meat).

Caving in to cuddles on the couch!

Roxy had impaled herself on either a tree branch or stick in the woods when she went to the bathroom. The vet was absolutely amazed that Roxy had not punctured a lung or had not damaged internal organs, as the stick went in 2 inches and then down her side another 5 inches! The vet also couldn't believe Roxy's "toughness" when being examined before any pain medication was given to her (Roxy looked worried but was calm and hardly whimpered).

Gross

Mark and I couldn't believe it either. We knew she could tolerate a lot, especially when compared to Mingo...but it was hard to think that she would just come running in from outside, like she normally does, and just kind of "hang out" until we noticed. Oddly enough, an injury of this magnitude did not cause a lot of bleeding for there was no blood whatsoever on our carpet and only a couple spots on the bed in the kennel.

Roxy eating

Although our checking account would beg to differ (hello emergency vet care!), this could have been much worse. Little Fox Rox could have been killed! For the next 10-14 days we have to keep her and Mingo separated, she can only have limited exercise, she has to take pills, and she has to wear this darn clown collar...which she has already started to chew through! This is going to be a long 2 weeks for all of us!Concerned Mr. Britches