When the Bite is Worse Than the Bark

I had planned to go to the gym early today. The school bus was only 10 minutes late instead of a whole half hour. Of course, it could've been worse. Some of my son's classmates were totally forgotten at their bus stops and the school had to send out special short buses to retrieve them. Worse, the elementary school, which lets out at 3:15, didn't receive any home-bound buses until 4:47 pm. That's crazy.

What's crazier is why I didn't go to the gym today. It's because my right hand hurts. Because my dog bit me last night. At 3 am, I wake up because my dog is crying and whining loudly as if he's in pain. He sleeps in the bedroom, either on the floor or in his crate which has several soft pillows. His back legs are giving him a lot of trouble lately, and he finds it difficult to push himself to a standing position without some sort of traction (like a mat) for his feet. I go to his crate to see what's up. Earlier in the day he'd gotten excited by seeing a cat in the driveway, which lead to ferocious barking. Then he has some sort of episode where he went down on the front door mat and couldn't get up. His rear end was twitching violently. He had shit himself! While my son got the dog harnessed and out the door for a walk, I cleaned up the mess. The dog seemed exhausted afterwards. Maybe it was a seizure? I don't know, and there's no way to tell.

The rest of the evening seemed fairly normal. The dog picked at his canned food dinner, but ate a lot of toasted ciabatta. So, at 3 am my thoughts are that the dog is stuck in his crate and needs to go for a walk but can't get up. I put my hand near his head and he bites me. Luckily, he's an old dog and his teeth are fairly worn. However, they're sharp enough to hurt, and rake the top of my hand down to the tip of my pinky. It's only later that I realize that his lower teeth have actually broken skin. It's not a big wound, but my whole hand is sore. The last thing I'm going to do is batter my hands by punching the Nexersys today.

The dog seemed dazed. He managed to get out of his crate so I took him outside. He peed and came back in. I took him out again before my son headed off to the school bus stop. Again, just a short walk because the dog seemed a bit out of it. After feeding him a teaspoon of Chobani smooth yogurt (strawberry banana is his favorite flavor) with probiotics, and then some toast with his Metacam, I'm assured that the dog is back to "normal" more or less. He eats most of his breakfast. By 9 am, he wants to go on a regular walk to sniff around for cats. I am worried that he'll lose control of his bowels again if he should actually see one, so I hope they're playing it safe and smart, and not lounging under my car in the driveway.

I'm thinking the dog had a nightmare last night. I know they dream, so this is possible too, right? Meanwhile, I think I'll just do another Norwegian 4 X 4 tomorrow. And maybe move a few weights.