Petsmart nightmare

[Eva and Fenway]

Hey everyone, 

 

It's been a while since I've posted in here now that classes have started up again. I had a weird experience though, and wanted to see if this was common or if I am just really unlucky. 

 

So, because it's summer in Arizona (I'm pretty much unable to take her anywhere after 9am), I've been taking Fenway once a week to doggie day camp at petsmart for socialization and play time. She has been doing wonderfully at home with me as a result of this play time. Yesterday I got a phone call from them saying she'd been in a fight. I guess she was trying to play with one dog, who found her too 'puppy-like', and he corrected her as older dogs do (this is fine, and part of why I send her there). Unfortunately, another dog saw this and immediately attacked Fenway biting her aggressively. The staff obviously broke it up immediately and banned the aggressor (whose owner is paying for my bills). Fen has a puncture on her leg though, which had to have a drain put in and xrays to make sure no bones were involved. Now she's got a cone and meds and this all seems a bit beyond the sort of nips or scrapes that I accepted as a risk of taking her to a day camp. 

 

 

My question, I guess, is whether anybody else has experienced something like this? Should I take her back? They really were very good about it and handled it professionally and appropriately, even giving me several free days and coming to pet her when I was leaving the vet that night. Still, she's a puppy and will play like one. I love what a single day of day-camp does for her, and she gets SO excited to go even the night before. I just wonder if this was a bad luck one-off, or a really common event?

 

PS - she's posing for the camera here, but has been breaking my heart all night and day with sad-eyes.   :)

[Eva and Fenway]

Thanks everyone for the positive support! I knew DK would help me feel better as I was kind of freaking out over it. Fenway is doing well and hopefully will have the drain removed from her leg today. She's just pretty grumpy about the restrictions on her.

[Susan and Sasha]

Oh Eva...

I'm So sorry that this happened to poor Fenway!!

I hope he recovers quickly and you do too!

I feel that I'm hearing Way too many of this kind of story lately...and it's upsetting...to say the least.

By the way...Fenway is absolutely beautiful!!

Hope your day is a good one...

[Joanne and Tucker Gilbert]

Sorry that happened to Fenway....that is terrible.I feel so bad for him and you.I hope he heals very well from this.I am not sure if I would go back personally unless I was able to be there myself to watch.I dont know if that is an option as we dont have doggie daycares where I am from.

 

Take care:)

Joanne and Tucker

[Jena ~ Dublin]

What a horrible thing for your dog (and you) to have to go through.  You say they handled it appropriately, but what is appropriatly for something like this?  You sound ok with how they handled it, but  I would look into other doggy day care.  Fenway's suffering, and yours, right now is hard, especially since I am sure Fenway wont be able to go to Doggy Day Care for a bit .....so cute though!!!!!  Speedy Recovery to Fenway LOTS of DOODLE LOVES.....Jena and Dublin

[Helen & Kirby]

What kind of dog was the aggressor?   When one of my dogs was young, she was attacked by two siberian huskys.  After that, she would have nothing to do with huskies, and as she got older and older, she even became a little aggresive (just barking) at any husky.  So be aware, that Fenway just might carry a grudge against that type of dog that got her.  Also, how old is she?

As far as returning to day-camp, I agree with everyone else.  You will know the first time you go back if she is nervous or scared about it.  You could demand that every half hour he be separated for a half hour, then back out to play.  Don't they have a puppy group -like all dogs under two years old?

Hope she is doing well.  I know all about the cone thing --watch out!  It makes the hair mat around her neck, and also where the outer edge rubs against her fur.

[Eva and Fenway]

Helen, good call on the cone - just went to check and gave it a bit of a brushing.  Also, good points about the dog, but she's so crazy-friendly that she has already encountered several over lab mixes (that's what it was) while we are on potty breaks and she runs up to play and lick just like normal, whining to run after them when they leave, the usual. She also runs toward the day camp every time we go into the petsmart for our now-daily vet visits. She looks so sad when she realizes we aren't going :)  I'm glad she's such a sweetheart.. I think she'll be ok mentally, but I'm definitely going to monitor her the next time she's in a supervised play session. 

 

 

Fenway is still with the cone and restricted but the bandage is off. She's left now with just the stitches, so it's also the first time that I've seen the actual extent of the damage. I have to say I am glad I did not see this before. It looks like she got bitten by a very large vampire. Cannot imagine what this was like 5 days ago.