Sparky, the untold story

I haven't written about the recent Sparky incident because I feel very guilty about it, and frankly, I don't come off looking very good in this one. First off, Sparky is fine, the story has a good if not happy ending. I do try to share the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of living with 10 or more dogs, so now that it's pretty much over, in the interest of honesty, here it is.

We did a lot of hand holding at the vet. I'm not
sure who was comforting whom.

One day back in early December Sparky was in the dog yard with several of my dogs. I was running in and out that morning, to the store and the post office, dealing with christmas crap. I wasn't aware when it happened and it likely occurred when I was off on one of my errands, but a dog fight broke out and Sparky got the worst of it. In fact, none of the other dogs seemed to have even a scratch on them, which made me think that two or more of them had ganged up on him. I'm just speculating, but I'm guessing that a couple shepherds were running around acting stupid, someone ran into Sparky, he reacted, and that spark set off a fight.

I found him hunkered down in the shed, obviously beat up but still walking and not actively bleeding. I brought him inside and started him on pain meds and antibiotics. I am extremely squeamish about looking at wounds on dogs. I'm not bothered by gross stuff on people, but dogs are another matter, so I didn't really look closely at him like I should have, and I didn't rush to the vet like I should have.

When Sparky was younger, for most of his time with us, I had kept him mostly by himself because everytime I put another dog with him, he would beat it up. Well, karma is a bitch and he got paid back for all the sins of his past all at once.

Sparky was still walking, able to do stairs, and after a couple days on the pain killers he really seemed like he was doing ok. However, after a week or more it became clear that the antibiotics weren't doing the trick at keeping infection at bay. When I finally cleaned him properly I realized that the wounds were deeper and more severe than I had realized.

Sparky McCool, during one of the cold laser treatments to
promote healing. 

We went to the vet and they put him on the surgery schedule for the next day. It was a long process getting him cleaned up, shaved down, and stitched up with a number of drains installed. He looked like the dog of Frankenstein for a while, but that set him on the road to recovery. We went through several weeks with a lot of pills, several follow up vet visits, and me doing wound care as conscientiously as possible. 

Dogs have got to be the most loving and
forgiving creatures on earth.

Most of the wounds healed up quickly. One was problematic because the stitches wouldn't hold, but even that one has now closed up. Just recently I was able to put a collar on him again (with new bling).

I'm not going to say that there's a silver lining here. This was my fault for letting it happen and not dealing with it like I should have from the start. But if there is anything positive to say, it's that all the nursing care has brought Sparky and me closer together. All the vet visits have made him more amenable to being handled by strangers too. At least he knew we were all trying to help him.

Anyway, Sparky has his bounce back again and last night I encouraged him to take Gigi's spot in bed at night. He didn't do it, and it might cause a problem with him and TJ if he did, so he was probably wise to pass it up.

We were both more relaxed at this point.

This was probably at our final re-check.

This was taken today. He's got his bounce back.