Poor Ollie. First he spent the first 9 months of his life in Mississippi with who knows who (someone who chopped his tail off!), then he had to ride in a wagon full of dogs up to Michigan, then he sat in another strange shelter. Just when things started to look up for him (a loving family, a nice house, plenty of walks and toys), tragedy struck.
After we got Ollie, we got a membership to our local dog park. We went a handful of times, and Ollie LOVED it. His favorite game was to run as fast as he could and make the other dogs chase him. Last weekend, we went to an event at night that required a babysitter. Chris and I thought we would take Ollie to the dog park to run off some energy before we left him with a teenage sitter. He had fun at the park playing for about half an hour. Just when he was slowing down, he decided to start running again. A German Shepard, that he had been intermittently playing with, started to play with him again. Unfortunately his version of playing was to T-Bone Ollie, and take a chunk out of his side. Ollie yelped and laid down immediately.
At first, we didn't think the damage was too severe. I thought it would heal on it's own, and Chris thought it might need a stitch or two. After we got home, and I looked closer, it was clear that the damage was more severe. We took Ollie to an emergency vet. Poor boy required seven stitches, a drain, 3 different medications, and a cone of shame.
I picked him up close to midnight that night (they wouldn't let us stay with him). He came out of the doggy waiting room, sobbing. He curled up on my lap and just cried. I've never seen a dog cry like that. He came home and was so sad and pathetic. We let him sleep in our room instead of his crate. He's been there ever since at night (and doing a great job with it!). He left a trail of blood spots all over our house, but, of course, we didn't even care.
We contacted the dog park and had to file a police report. They contacted the suspect, and the owner denied it was his dog. The officer left me a message that he had contacted other people at the park, but hasn't heard back. I'm so sad thinking of that dog being allowed back at the park. Our vet says the bite is pretty minor, all in all, and she thinks it was likely an accident. However, the vets we've spoken with, and our new dog trainer all discourage dog parks due to how common it is that dogs get hurt. So, it looks like we aren't going back. It makes me sad because Ollie LOVED it, but I would so much rather him be healthy and happy and never risk that happening again.
