Since a few of my teeth were broken from the accident, the dentist pulled them. He pulled one upper canine, and two upper incisors.

To tell you the truth, I don’t know the difference. I’m still a happy guy! I also still have the same great smile. And I have many other ways of expressing my abundant happiness, too.

For my first few days back home, I just ate rice because, after my dental work, rice was easier to chew. But then I started to eat my regular dry food and, most important, my dog bones, which is another one of my hobbies. My other doctor also recommended “high fiber” canned dog food for a while, which was a great idea because it tastes so good.

Here is a chart of a dog’s teeth. Actually, I never knew so much about a dog’s mouth before! What I mostly knew is that there are certain foods that I like, and certain foods that I don’t like, and that I like to chew and play with my ball and other toys, that I like to chew on the sticks in our backyard, and that I like to lick people to express to them that I love them.

The hospital even had visiting hours! There were afternoon visiting hours (11 a.m. – 12 p.m.) , and evening visiting hours (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.). Some people worry if their pets are in the hospital and they can’t visit them every day.  I think we pets are just fine with that.  There were some days when Jane and Phil couldn’t get to the hospital but that was fine because my doctor kept them informed about how I was doing, and also because I just needed a lot of rest.  Of course when Jane and Phil came, I felt great, even though I was pretty tired and out of it.  Jane even came right into my pen and sat down with me!  It took a lot of effort because I was so groggy but I did manage to wag my tail now and then, which was my favorite way of saying that I was happy to see them.

I noticed and remember when Jane said, “Look! He’s wagging his tail!” and I could hear the excitement in her voice.  I noticed that she had noticed and was glad.

In the hospital, I had my own emergency care doctor, Dr. B. I also had my own dentist! Boy, I felt special. Everybody loved me, and I loved them.

When I was in the Critical Care Unit, lots of people were congratulating Dr. B on what a wonderful patient he had. He took pride in having me as his patient.

Many people worry about the care their pets will get.  My emergency care doctor is nice, and smart, and really cares about his patients, and this is why he and I get along so well. He’s a really busy guy with, unfortunately, lots of animal emergencies, but we managed to get him to stand still long enough for the photo to be taken.

Thanks, Dr. B. I owe you a lot!

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After my mom got driving instructions to the big 24-hour emergency animal hospital, the technicians put me on a stretcher and carried the stretcher, with me on it, to my mom’s car, and put me, still on the stretcher, in the back seat. My mom drove me to the big 24-hour animal hospital with me lying on the stretcher on the back seat.  When we got to the big 24-hour animal hospital,  she ran in and told them that we were here.  Different technicians came, rolling a gurney with them, pulled the whole stretcher with me on it out of the car, put it on the gurney, and wheeled me into the big 24-hour animal hospital.

I spent that day and the next six days there.

Here is a picture of the entrance (and exit) of the big 24-hour animal hospital.

Don’t feel badly for me. I like the big 24-hour animal hospital because there, I can do another one of my hobbies, which is making friends. When I was there, I made friends with other animals who were patients in the hospital, and with people, too. I made friends with the doctors and with the technicians. There are also volunteers in the hospital who just love dogs and cats and who are there to make us animals feel comfortable, and there I made friends with the volunteers, too. Children came to visit their pets and I got to make friends with those children and their parents, too. It’s a pretty interesting and active place.

A little girl whose dog was in the pen next to mine was upset thinking that her dog was not happy in the pen and in the hospital but I’m certain that we dogs were quite content to be in our own space.

Dogs like me like our own space. It’s in our nature. We love people, but we like peace and quiet and our own space, too, at times.  There was a time a few years ago when, if I did something I wasn’t allowed to do, my parents would put me in my crate, which is down in the basement. Eventually they figured out that I actually like being in my crate and that it was the total opposite of a punishment so they stopped putting me in the basement if I did something they thought I shouldn’t do. So here in the big animal hospital, I was content in my own pen. I needed a lot of quiet and personal space in order to begin to get better. I was in a good place, and I was alive, and there were many other dogs and animals near me, so don’t feel badly for me.

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However, now I have three broken toes and an ankle that is broken in numerous places. I have also lost three teeth. My leg is in a splint and I am not allowed to leave our living room or walk around our home.

In this photo, you can see a few bald spots in my coat, where I was shaved. I’ll tell you more about those later, too.

The purpose of the splint is so that my toes and ankle will heal properly. It keeps them in a proper position and protects them from being touched or knocked.  I am not allowed to leave our living room or walk around our home and must keep my movement to a minimum. Everybody wants my toes and ankle to heal properly so that I can run again. I love to run with Phil. Running with Phil is also one of my hobbies and joys in life.

In this picture, you see bright red bandages. But I don’t see bright red bandages.  Dogs (and I’m one) can’t see the color red.  Red looks kind of greenish brown to us.  This is important, and I’ll tell you why later.

Clearly this is a change of outfit from how I looked the morning of my tunneling.

So let’s continue with our story, as this day was a big and long day.

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