Memorial Day Madness

On Friday after I got off work the people doing our floors were just finishing up. They were putting on the last bit of finish and the floors just look fantastic! We packed our bags and left for Wisconsin to stay until Sunday to let the floors dry and cure.

The weekend was really nice and relaxing as usual. Barry enjoyed his time outdoors. We went to a park called Petrified Springs. We hiked and even tried to take Barry to the water to see how he would do. He didn't seem to like it or not like it. He was rather indifferent to the water, actually. He stood in it but wasn't phased by it. We probably hiked for about an hour and a half. Then later that evening he got to play with his cousin, Paxton, a golden doodle. They got along well for the most part. They are both big dogs and have a similar energy and so they were both playing rough but it was a normal and natural play.

Barry is constantly in hunter mode when outdoors. Paxton is calm and cool here.

Grandpa wanted to walk both dogs at the same time. I protested slightly as I was worried it would be quite difficult. Both dogs are strong and both dogs pull. It turned out the walk was pretty successful. They both stayed relatively on the sidewalk and were mostly well behaved. I followed behind to take some pictures.

I like big butts. Although, I'd say Paxton's is more fluffy than big.

Barry slept well that night. He played hard with his cousin and hiked hills and trails.

On Sunday we had a cookout with the family. It was a gorgeous day. At around 4:30 or so we packed up and left for Chicago knowing we'd have a long day ahead of us with moving furniture and cleaning surfaces, etc.

After the hour and a half ride back to Chicago we parked on the street behind our building. I was carrying a few bags and having some issues so I set all the bags down to reassess and get a better grip on everything when I looked up and noticed Husband, holding Barry on his leash, looking back at me, realizing I was still by the car. He said something and I looked down to pick up the bags and once I grabbed them I looked up and Barry was running free, leash flying behind him. He'd spotted a squirrel. Husband was momentarily distracted by me and in that very moment a squirrel went by and Barry was able to get free. It happened in a flash.

Barry was running hard on the cement. We were in the parking lot behind our condo building. Barry was running all directions, trailing the squirrel quite expertly. The squirrel would dodge quickly in a new direction and Barry stayed with the squirrel at each turn. Under cars, over the grassy curbs, this way, that way, and then finally Husband was able to grab hold of Barry's leash and stop him. At that point I could already see all the scrapes, gashes, blood, frayed nails. Barry had really done a number on his paws and nails. Each step he took left splotches and patches of blood. A trail of blood behind him coming from his pads and nails.

We rushed into our messy and dusty condo with beautiful new floors and hurried Barry into the tub to clean him. We rinsed his paws and then dipped them in baking soda to stop the blood from pouring out. It helped a little. It seemed to clog some of the open wounds that were bleeding and he was no longer gushing blood. Barry limped and hobbled to a corner of the living room trailing pink baking soda behind him. He could barely walk. He stayed in the corner near the sliding glass doors on a towel for about 45 minutes. I brought him water and we fed him treats. We were beside ourselves. I was devastated. The look he was giving us was torture. There was little we could do for him. We'd cleaned him and helped stop the bleeding.

So we got to work and moved furniture back to its spot. Once we moved the spare mattress into the back room Barry went to the back room and lay there for the rest of the evening while we cleaned and moved furniture. Husband and I moved and cleaned in near total silence. It was a horrible experience. We should have been celebrating our new floors and happily moving our furniture with discussion on if we wanted to put the spare bed here, or there, and where should we put the desk, what kind of rugs should we get, what about a dresser? There was little discussion. Everything was mechanical and depressing. We were only worried about Barry. Each time I went to the back room to check on Barry Husband would be either right behind me or already in the room checking on Barry as if we both had an internal clock set to the same time to check Barry setting.

As the hours went on and after we made Barry eat (with a small dose of aspirin crushed in) he was asleep. He slept hard. He would not get up. I think we realized he would be fine and he would just need to take time to heal up a bit. I still kept going in to check on him but he was out. He barely moved from the time we got home (about 6:30PM) until the following morning at about 8:30AM. At about 1AM he limped to our bedroom to get into bed with us but he was unable to jump into bed so I lifted him up to come into the bed. Now looking back on it I'm surprised I lifted him with such ease. He's nearly 70 pounds of muscle and I popped him into my arms and laid him on our bed.  You could tell he was in pain still. His sensitive paws, jumping at being touched. Awww... Poor guy. It's so hard to see your pet in pain and there's little you can do about it.

At 8:30 the next morning we woke and loved on Barry. Checked his paws and they were scabbed up a bit but still raw and tender. We moved around, got off the bed. Used the bathroom and Barry stayed on the bed. Even though it had been over 14 hours since he'd gone to the bathroom (he didn't get up the night before at any prompting so we just let him sleep rather than take him out before bed as usual) he wasn't interested in moving. I finally pulled the spare bedroom mattress into our bedroom on the floor by our bed so that Barry could jump down relatively pain free.

It's a bit hard to see but he has a small cut on his chin here.

Once we got him outside to use the bathroom he got quite a pep in his step. He was doing a good deal of limping but you could see he was truly enjoying being outside. We took it easy and went on a shorter route but it was so relieving to see him wagging his tail and hobbling along happily.

You can see some cuts on his arms here.

An example of how it painful it must be for him to walk. See how raw that is? Many
parts  of his  pads on  all fours looks like this. Poor guy.

We will have to take it easy so he heals up properly but even today I could see how excited and peppy he was just being outside. He is healthy and heals quickly, as we've seen from other incidences, so we are sure he'll be back to squirrel hunting and occasional pulling in no time.