Painting the dog red... :(
Steve Walker
(already dark) and took Samson out for a run straight away in the park
nearby. Only a minute or two after we got there, I noticed him stepping
around strangely and sniffing at his feet.
Went over to investigate, and some idiot had thrown *paint* - red, as it
turned out once we got back to a well-lit area - all across the path.
Samson's feet were covered in it, and his sniffing at them had it all
over his face as well. :(
I didn't *think* he had ingested any of it - I got there pretty quickly
- but didn't want to take a chance, and wasn't sure what to use to get
it off him safely. Fortunately, with it being so early, the vet was
still open, and not far away, so I walked him there at high speed. When
we got in, the receptionist said, 'My God, what happened to him?!' It
hadn't occurred to me that the red paint would look just like blood!
After I explained, one of the vets came out to verify that he hadn't got
it into his throat and to help clean him up. Fortunately, the paint
came off pretty easily, but Samson was *not* at all impressed with being
swabbed/scrubbed, though he was pretty good - plenty of wriggling, but
no real growling, and the vet was as gentle as she could be. With
holding him for the process, *I* was covered in paint by the finish, so
he had to stay with the vet while I went to scrub down as well. But he
*was* very pleased to see me. :)
So in the end, the only real loss was that Samson's walk was interrupted
(finished off at a different park afterwards) - the vet didn't even
charge for the clean-up - but it was a scare, and I'd *love* to get my
hands on the fool that thought it would be a good prank to pour paint in
a dark part of the path....
Cheers,
--
Steve Walker
http://www.skwalker.demon.co.uk/index.htm
Adrienne Caldwell
especially Samson sniffing his feet and getting the paint on his face : )
(Also the receptionist's reaction). (Not about the possibility of him
ingesting it though). It's funny how dogs make our lives so
unpredictable. One minute your leaving your house for an innocent walk
through the park, the next your at the vet's with a dog painted red.
Reminds me of the time Puppy rolled in dead animal. Mario and I had to
wear garbage bags, with eye hole cut outs, over our heads in order to bath
her without getting sprayed with dead animal when she shook the water off
of her fur.
--
Adrienne
Gremlin, Bruno, Lewis, Yoko, Freneau
John Muir, "Stickeen: The Story of a Dog"
http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/stickeen/the_story_of_a_dog.html
(In memory of Pepe, Pepper, Cinder, Rascal, Tucker, Max and Puppy)
Steve Walker
<a...@mindspring.com> writes
>I hope you don't get mad, but I laughed throughout the entire story -
>especially Samson sniffing his feet and getting the paint on his face : )
>(Also the receptionist's reaction). (Not about the possibility of him
>ingesting it though). It's funny how dogs make our lives so
>unpredictable. One minute your leaving your house for an innocent walk
>through the park, the next your at the vet's with a dog painted red.
Nah, not mad. I enjoy the 'adventure' aspect of having a dog - not
knowing what's coming next - almost as much as the 'peaceful' side of
all of us bunched together on the sofa with Samson resting on top etc.
Not that my life is exactly predictable as it is. :) With 3 kids, their
friends often at the house, my wife's friends and their kids, the
(human) waifs and strays that my wife picks up..... I think I need a
week in London so I can go to Piccadilly Circus for some peace and
quiet!
>Reminds me of the time Puppy rolled in dead animal. Mario and I had to
>wear garbage bags, with eye hole cut outs, over our heads in order to bath
>her without getting sprayed with dead animal when she shook the water off
>of her fur.
Yuk! Samson loves to investigate stuff like that, but hasn't shown much
desire to roll in it so far, fortunately.
BTW - don't you sleep?! :) It must have been the 'wee small hours' when
you posted this from NY! We must share a lack of need for much sleep
(not something my wife has, but opposites attract, as they say!). 5
hours a night is ample for me, unless I'm ill, so why sleep your life
away?
buglady
dog will increase your awareness of the number of idiots in the world. :-(
buglady
take out the dog before replying
Steve Walker wrote in message ...
- but it was a scare, and I'd *love* to get my
>hands on the fool that thought it would be a good prank to pour paint in
>a dark part of the path....
>
Adrienne Caldwell
> BTW - don't you sleep?! :) It must have been the 'wee small hours' when
> you posted this from NY! We must share a lack of need for much sleep
> (not something my wife has, but opposites attract, as they say!). 5
> hours a night is ample for me, unless I'm ill, so why sleep your life
> away?
I had a tooth extracted on Sunday. I was unable to sleep well last night from
pain : (
But generally I'm usually up late at night working. There are too many
distractions during the day. So sometimes I'll take a late night break around
3:00 and check e-mail and the rpd news groups.
Steve Walker
<a...@mindspring.com> writes
>I hope you don't get mad, but I laughed throughout the entire story -
>especially Samson sniffing his feet and getting the paint on his face : )
>(Also the receptionist's reaction). (Not about the possibility of him
>ingesting it though). It's funny how dogs make our lives so
>unpredictable. One minute your leaving your house for an innocent walk
>through the park, the next your at the vet's with a dog painted red.
>
>wear garbage bags, with eye hole cut outs, over our heads in order to bath
>her without getting sprayed with dead animal when she shook the water off
>of her fur.
Wouldn't you know it? Right after I wrote that Samson hasn't shown a
tendency to roll in carrion, he makes a liar of me by going and doing
it!
Had to take an afternoon's holiday yesterday - had a chance to get some
parts I needed for the car cheap from a car-breakers, but they close
before I finish work.
This place is right near the coast - and I couldn't let an opportunity
like that pass, could I? :) So I went home first, got changed and took
Samson with me. His first time in the car with me without someone
sitting in the back with him, but no problems at all, he was quite
happy.
Got the parts, then off to the beach - same place we were a couple of
weeks ago. Within a couple of minutes of arriving (after the obligatory
'run back and forth at top speed out of excitement' but was over), what
should he do but find a dead sea bird and roll in it? Fortunately, the
strong winds of the last couple of days had pretty much desiccated it,
but *why* do they do that? Wasn't like he was trying to eat it or
anything, just rolling in it. Found a couple more as we walked along,
and did the same, but gave me some opportunities to work on calling him
off them.
Another question - from my very limited experience so far, I think there
must be a big difference between a coursing/hunting instinct and a
retrieving instinct - is that right? If I throw a ball for Samson, he
shows little interest. But if I *roll* the ball, so it 'runs' away from
him, he's after it like a shot.
With the strong winds and rough seas lately, there were lots of stalks
of wrack (seaweed), complete with club base and fronds, washed up on the
beach. We had loads of fun with these - they were fairly firm, but
flexible, kind of like a thick whip with fronds. I'd run off with the
fronds trailing along the floor, looking like they were scuttling away,
and then as Samson caught up with them, I stopped and dragged/wiggled
them to and fro - he just couldn't resist. He'd catch the fronds, tear
one off and 'kill' it with a vigorous shake of the head, then come back
for more. Once the frond was denuded, no problem - just pick up another
one.
So I guess Samson is showing some of his (assumed) sighthound instincts
here - I could imagine that he'd pursue a towed lure (or a rabbit, if we
saw one) to hell and back - whereas I couldn't imagine him ever
retrieving, say, a shot duck (not that we have that kind of hunting here
anyway). Before I saw him in action, I'd always assumed that the two
things resulted from the same instinct, but now I don't think so.
Oh, one of the funny things yesterday resulted from this 'prey drive' as
well. The wind was so strong that there were constant streams of dry
sand being blown across the beach that looked like a fast, drifting mist
about 6" above the ground. When Samson wasn't busy rolling in dead
birds and killing the evil seaweed, he was hunting these drifts as they
scooted along - he'd snap at a thicker patch as it blew past him (the
wind was so strong he had no chance of keeping up with the flow, but he
was doing his best!), only for it to dissolve into nothing - 'ooh, ooh,
but there's another one!!'.
This only stopped when he was too tired to want to do anything but trot
along next to me - we must have gone about 3 or 4 miles in total, but
with lots of zig-zagging. And when we got back to the car, he climbed
straight in and was asleep before I even got the car moving. :) When we
got home, I sat in my armchair, and he climbed straight up across my
legs and fell fast asleep again for about an hour - at which point he
only got up because I did. I think it was a happy tiredness - it
certainly looked *extremely* cute.
Hope your tooth has stopped troubling you!
Kerri Kadow
stepped in paint- I've seen red toy stuffing my Ginger one point (she had been
busy destroying the toy, I didn't realized the stuffing was red till I found
it all over the room) and it sure gave me a scare!!
-Lizzi
--
"My evil twin... bad weather friend... He always wants to start when I want to
begin..." --They Might Be Giants ("My Evil Twin", from Apollo 18)
"Don't you hate it when people put quotes at the end of their email?"
-- MY evil twin