The dog bite

So you want to work with dogs?  Sometimes you get licked, sometimes you get bitten.   We went to a friends house for a cook-out  and took two of our larger dogs, Josie and Shakia.  They have two dogs about the same size. 

When we arrived all the dogs were greeting each other and chasing one another around the yard.  Shortly after our arrive we popped inside the house and the dogs followed.  With 5 people and four dogs all crowding the kitchen two of the dogs became agitated with one another.  I suspect it was a territorial dispute.  At first it seemed they might separate peacefully but then it escalated into a full on dog brawl.  Now the standing advice is not to get in the middle of two dogs fighting, but when they are your dogs, and you live around dogs, you can often grab them by their scruffs and pull them apart to “negotiate peace”.  Plus if they are your dogs, a fight can become costly if the dogs become injured and require vet care.  But there is a risk.  

So my wife jumped in and scruffed our dog in the midst of the turmoil and managed to catch one of the dog’s teeth across her finger.  Knowing that any trip to see a doctor will end up in a mandatory “bite report” being filed, we opted to take care of it with our own bush medicine. 

With plenty of bleeding, the wound had flushed itself out pretty good.  I put a Compeed bandage on it,, splinted it to another finger to reduce bending, and we were off and running.  It’s been several days now and the wound is healing nicely.  A good explanation of the bandages:  

My wife is not angry or bitter, knowing it was not intentional.  She would do the same thing again in the same circumstances.  Working with animals, and living with dogs, it’s not “if you’ll get hurt”, it’s only “when and how bad”!   Dogs live in the moment and so should we, taking the good with the bad.