Chewie got bit in the face

[Kimmy & Chewie]

Chewie got bit in the face by a labrador who was off-leash today :(

It happened at our weekly Obedience class. The labrador (name Tara) belonged to a former student of the class and the owner brings her here pretty regularly and she's always off-leash. I've seen both of them a few times before. Chewie even played with Tara 5 minutes before the incident.

5 minutes before class started, I decided to take Chewie for a "warm up". He was heeling nicely when we walked pass Tara (off-leash, owner no where in sight). Being the friendly dog that he is, Chewie took a few steps to greet Tara (tails wagging), but Tara reply with an attack. It happened so fast, there was a lot of noise...Tara's growling and Chewie's crying/yelping and backing away. Seconds later, Chewie was on his back and Tara was on top of him. Chewie doesn't bite back, only kicking all four paws trying to get out of the jam. I yelled and Tara finally back off.

I checked Chewie and found a big puncture under his eye :( I rushed him to the vet immediately.

Tara's owner found me as I was carrying Chewie onto the car. She's actually a really nice old lady and offered to pay the vet bills. I don't remember my response to her as my focus was on poor Chewie.

The first vet we saw cleaned the wound to assess the damage. She said the it require stitches as the bite is quite deep (2 cm). And because it's so close to his eye, he will need to be sedated under general aneasthetic as they cannot afford him to twitch at all while they stitch.

I felt terrible!! The 2 good things were 1) it missed his eye and 2) Chewie's still in good spirits (must be a doodle thing!)

He happily played fetch while we wait an hour for the operating room and for the surgoen to arrive.

I was told to come back in 3 hours (1 hour to under and 2 hours to wake up)....I was a nervous wreck!!

Here's what my poor Chewie looks like now :( Was quite shocked at how much hair they had to shave off.

He needs to be in the 'cone of shame' all the time and keeps bumping into things. Also need 4 different drugs to take for the pain, swelling and prevent infection.

The final bill was around US$400 and I yes, I do plan to get Tara's owner to pay for it!!

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am so glad that Chewie is healing up nicely.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Woo Hoo! No more cone! It looks like it has heal nicely! :)

[BG and Gavin]

The site looks really good!  I am sure Chewie will be happy to lose the cone.

[Donna K & Quincy]

That is great, Chewi will be looking like his old self in no time.

[Sharon & Monty]

Chewie is looking great!  So glad he done with the cone.

[Colleen, Jake & Baxter]

Glad to know Chewie is on the mend.  It sounds like Chewie has been a real trooper throughout this ordeal:)

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Great to see that the wound is healing and I notice that his hair is starting to grow back too.  Good job X

[Kimmy & Chewie]

Happy to report that the vet removed Chewie's stitches today! The wound healed nicely, so he no longer has to wear the "cone of shame". Yay!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, I hope Chewie gets to lose the cone!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good news. I hope the cone will soon be history.