Unprotected Puppy Play

First off, follow-up from the last post: we got the car! Same loan through the bank, they just exchanged the collateral from one car to the other. Our new car is a black 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. It's not illegal to have tinted windows in California, and this car has all tinted windows. It looks very sleek. Glad that worked out.

More importantly, Echo's bad day. I think I've already said that there is some disagreement in the dog world about when you can take your puppy to grass and dog parks. Because we took her out after her first shots instead of waiting until her last, Nick and I have termed this "unprotected puppy play". I need to start by saying she's alright and doing well. We took Echo to the local dog park today, and there was only one other dog there. This dog was a very stocky pit bull, probably 100 lbs. He was on leash and both owners were near him. When we went in the owners responded to Echo like all people have, "OHHHH, just a PUUUUUPPY" As soon as we got in the gate, though, the dog lunged at Echo and had her locked in his jaw by her ear. It took both of the pit bull's owners, Nick and I to get them separated. Nick punched the dogs jowls and I kicked its chest, and it finally let go. Echo ran away screaming, and the pit bull's owner tackled his dog and sat on it. I went straight to Echo, who was screaming. When I bent to pick her up she growled and bit at me, but then let me pick her up. She was shaking so bad, but neither Nick or I could find any puncture wounds. There was no blood anywhere. Both owners of the other dog came over to make sure she was ok. They did everything we could have hoped for from owners. They gave me a phone number and offered to pay for any vet bills. They were there to help pull there dog off, and there dog was on a leash to begin with, which helped. I can't imagine that Echo would even be alive if we would have had to run to Echo and the pit bull to pull them apart. Luckily, the pit bull didn't shake Echo at all. The mystery is that we aren't sure what that dog was latched onto. We think it had to have been her collar, since there are no holes in her, but even her collar has no marks on it.

We took Echo home and washed her with a white cloth to check for blood, and there was none. She let us touch her ear without whining, but reluctantly. I called our vet but they were closed on Mondays, but with no blood we weren't too concerned. After 20 minutes or so, she laid down to sleep, and we looked in her ears with a flashlight. We saw a little scratch that looked like a papercut, and some dried blood. About an hour after that I was still looking her over and noticed everything had dried except a small spot behind her ear. It was clear liquid, but sticky. Nick and I found a small puncture behind her ear, so we called a different vet. They let us come in right away and checked her out right when we got there. They clipped and cleaned the wound with antiseptic. The vet said he could put a staple in it or not, it was kind of on the border. He put one on it just for good measure. He also put her on an antibiotic for a week. She deserved ice cream...but she got a puppy equivalent. Nick tried to give her the antibiotic pill wrapped in turkey, but she ate the turkey and spit out the pill. Then he coated it with peanut butter which she lapped up. Then she got peanut butter in her tire toy. She's acting playful and trying to kill her stuffed mallard duck, so I think she's alright. Luckily. I have not been so scared in my life. I was shook up for longer than Echo was.

On a lighter note: we went down to Santa Cruz on Saturday to visit our friend, Ashley. Santa Cruz is an hour drive, 40 minutes ish of which is south. (Sidenote, if you're particularly upset about the large amounts of snow coming, you may want to stop reading here) It was 72 degrees in Santa Cruz (only 60 in San Fran) and we went to the beach. We were in shorts and swim suits and laid in the sun. Echo did not like the ocean washing up on her. When the waves rolled in she ran away, but she loved the sand. She learned what digging was, though, and once she started we couldn't stop her. It was the funniest thing to watch. Sand flew everywhere. She was exhausted after that. We ate at a place called Pizza My Heart, which is based in Cali. I think it originated in Santa Cruz, too. It was good.
Here's some warm pics for you:

Echo trying to back out of the water.