Monday, September 7, 2009

Our "First Baby" Gets Injured

On May 10, 1001, Andrew and I became the proud parents of the best darned chocolate lab one could ever ask for. He really is the best dog ever - so sweet and mellow. Apollo is wonderful with our kids, and we all adore him. The only time you ever see any sign of aggression is when the gas & electric company comes to check the meters in the back yard. You would think we have an attack dog living with us the way he barks and puts on such a great show - he does not like strangers or small rodents coming anywhere near the back yard uninvited. It's just the way I like it. He comes back in his dog door wagging his tail, proud of his big show.

For those of you sorority sisters out there, this behavior reminds me so much of how Andrew used to be called out to the front yard at the frat house when anyone uninvited showed up. He would puff out his chest and act tough, scaring off anyone with any real sense, but then would turn around and give us a big goofy smile.

Well, we threw a ball for Apollo Saturday afternoon and he chased after it with his normal gusto. Now Apollo is a retriever that doesn't actually retrieve. He just chases after the ball and then eats grass. You have to go physically get the ball and throw it again for him. I went to "retrieve" the ball and saw that Apollo wasn't putting any weight on his back foot. After careful examination we couldn't see or feel anything, and he didn't indicate any pain.

The next day we took him to the ER vet because there was no improvement, and were devastated to hear the he has torn his ACL, and will likely need surgery ($$$$) to recover any normal use of his back leg. It is so heartbreaking to see your pet injured and know that his quality of life has been impacted. This unfortunately means the end of any more doggie daycare for Apollo - his most favorite activity, next to eating cat poop.

[Insert sigh of frustration here]. Is it too much to ask that we just get to the end of the year without anyone else in our family visiting the ER, please?

2 comments:

breemunger said...

Poor Apollo. My friend, Heidi, who read at the wedding, had this thing happen to her golden 2 weeks ago. He just had his sucessful surgery, tho!

Jeff, Angela, Hudson, Hailey & Havana said...

damn it! Our yellow lab did the exact same thing a week and a half ago.