damned expensive dog

Oh, the debacle this dog has caused with his tail...or lack thereof. We had his tail cropped on April 25. Since it wasn't done after he was born, the vet advised us to wait until he had all his shots before we went ahead with the surgery. Meanwhile, the tail is a damned menace. It whips everything, everyone, the dog chases it constantly (which may have been how he tweaked his leg) and is in danger of chewing it off his own ass. So it comes as no surprise that no e-collar will keep this dog's mouth off his tail stump. He pulled the dressing off the day after surgery so we took him back to the vet the next morning. They said to leave it off, keep on the e-collar (duh), keep it clean (again, duh), and watch for signs of infection. Got it. I asked for antibiotics after explaining that our backyard was pretty much only dirt, but was told there was no need.

After a week of hell trying to keep on the e-collars (yes, collars plural) and scolding the dog constantly, he pulled out some stitches. Josh took him in to the vet this morning and got a nice scolding about how infected it was, how we bandaged it wrong (puh-leeze!) and the repairs on his tail would cost more than the surgery itself. In the mood I've been in lately, I told Josh to tell the vet to just put the damned dog down. Of course I didn't mean it! I was just so frustrated and tired of the whole tail business. What the heck is going to happen when we get him neutered?

So Buddy spent the night at the vet - again. He now has two layers of stitches, dissolvable on the inside and metal wire on the outside as a deterrent against chewing. He's been all hooked up and cleaned out with antibiotics and knocked out. The vet is sending us home tomorrow with more antibiotics and thank goodness, tranquilizers until the stitches come out. I'll have to avoid the temptation to hoard the tranquilizers myself. Lord knows I can use them.