Picking on kids (dogs) your own size

The story behind this post and picture.  It was completely our fault.  I will say that from the beginning!  My in-laws were at the house with me to help watch L so that I could shower and get ready for her baptism on Tuesday.  We were all ready to leave and were making trips to the car with all the crap we needed to take.  During one of the trips to and from the car, Ian's Dad and I were coming in and out of the door and the door got left open a bit.

Tessa saw this ginormous dog (probably twice the size of Tessa in weight) walking in front of our house in the middle of the street.  I swear I have never seen her move that quickly.  She skipped the steps and leapt out of our house.  I should've known to shut the door completely.  She has been ridiculously protective whenever Ian isn't around, and even more so since L has been home.  Not towards humans - but towards other dogs.  We've been working with her on walks trying to get her to calm down a bit.  Clearly - our work hasn't quite done a lot considering how quickly she reacted this time.

Out the door she went, with me screaming her name.  The owner yelled at her as she came up to her dog.  Tessa stopped, and started to come back to the house.  I was at the door, holding a crying baby, and Tessa made it all the way to our door steps, took one look at me and baby, and turned around and went back to the dog.  That's when things got a little out of hand.  I couldn't see what happened, but I heard yelping.  But within about 3 seconds, it was over.  Ian's parents grabbed Tessa by the collar and brought her inside.

I couldn't stop apologizing to the owner.  She is our neighbor who I do not know, but we smile and nod when we see each other.  She was understanding and said her dog was perfectly fine.

Once Tessa was inside, I handed L off and did a quick check of Tessa to make sure she was okay.  She was acting really odd as if she was hurt.  But I checked her mouth (this is often where bites can happen), her ears, and briefly looked to make sure I didn't see blood anywhere.  I saw nothing.  Even Ian's parents said - nope she's good.

So we left to go to L's baptism.  She was baptized over an hour away from our house.  Then we went to dinner with the fam afterwards.  Then we came home.

I walked into the door with L and immediately saw blood on the floor.  I put L down and called for Tessa.  Nothing.  Called again - nothing.  Called again - and she slowly came out from around the corner.  I brought her closer, and saw a drop of blood hit the floor.  I looked to see where it was coming from and found that there was a hole the size of a quarter in her chest, between her legs.  I FREAKED OUT!

Ian wasn't in the house yet, so I stepped outside and yelled down the street that I needed him immediately.  I felt like the worst mom ever having left her for 6 hours bleeding.

I took her to our vet right away.  She was sedated and shaved to see just how bad the damage was.  They don't like closing up dog bite wounds because bacteria from the other dog's mouth will get trapped in there.  The damage was enough that they had to put a drain in.  That's what you see sticking out of her.  The hole to the left of the white drain is the actual bite.  The drain will be taken out in the next week.

I *love* our vet.  She was off yesterday but called us anyways to check in.  I'm glad she did because Tessa refused to lay down and was whining and yelping quite a bit.  Our vet decided an additional med was needed to help her rest (she is now on an anti-inflammatory, an antibiotic, and a pain med).  She's MUCH more comfortable now that she has the pain med.  And it's making her a bit sleepy so she can rest.

I followed up with our neighbor to check on her dog.  Her dog has a couple scratches on the head, but nothing that requires any attention.  She was so incredibly understanding, it left me speechless.  She said she knew we have a new baby, that Tessa is adjusting to so much and is probably more protective right now, and that these things happen sometimes. 

I am hoping Tessa learned her lesson.  But who knows!  I know I'm a little sick of cleaning up all the drainage leaking all over our house.  I've been trying to keep her contained to areas I've put some towels down.  But when she walks to or from those areas, she leaves little droplets of blood. 

And I HATE blood.  It freaks me out.  But between seeing lots of L's blood in the hospital, and now cleaning Tessa's open wound, I'm kind of getting used to it.  Well let me not get too ahead of myself - maybe tolerating is a better word.