It scared me nearly out of my skin. Daisy’s first injury.

Well that certainly didn't feel too good....
I know, I know, I sound like a new mom who freaks out over every little boo-boo her baby gets. Well, maybe I am. But this was scary.
Daisy is a very happy, exuberant puppy. And she likes to release all that exuberance by jumping up in the air, with all four paws off the ground, sometimes spinning in mid-air. We’re trying to break her of that; no one likes to visit a house where a dog is jumping all over you. Especially if you’re wearing a skirt and stockings.
Even worse, we could see the physical risk her jump-and-spin routine poses to her body. She could break bones, dislocate something, or pull or tear tendons or muscles if she landed wrong.
Up in the air she jumps, all four paws far off the floor and then a quick spin in midair, landing (mostly) on her paws again.
But not this time.

....but I'll probably be silly enough to do it again....
Something happened when our backs were turned. She was all excited when DH came home, jumping all over the place like a silly little lunatic. DH isn’t the best with discipline, he tends to be slipshod at best and even when he does give a command, many times it’s the wrong word or phrase. Not a big help in that department.
Anyway, up she jumped as if her legs were made of springs, around she flipped —– and down she came at an angle, with her back legs buckled under in some weird, twisted way.
I only saw this from the corner of my eye, but when I turned to her, I saw that she had gotten up feebly and was hopping pathetically on three legs. She had her back left leg pulled up off the ground, her ears were down just like when she was in pain after she was spayed, and she was trying to hobble closer to DH for comfort.

....because learning from my mistakes is just no fun!
I freaked. Big time.
I thought she’d broken her leg. On a Sunday. No vet. We’d have to take our chances with an unknown animal hospital.
In the two seconds it took me to scream (and I mean scream) “Daisy’s hurt!“, my mind had already realigned our day, processed who we had to call to cancel our planned activities, and imagined which veterinary hospital we’d be sent to and how long it could take us to get there. No place seems close in a crisis.
DD came flying in from the next room and raced to her puppy’s side, embracing her and giving her the comfort she sought. DH just stood there and said, “What?” (typical guy).
The weird thing that struck me was that Daisy didn’t cry out at all. No whimper, no yipe. That gave me hope. But that pitiful look on her face, those drooping ears, that little body trying to move on three legs absolutely crushed my heart.
Over the next few minutes – which felt like hours – Daisy slowly lowered her leg to the ground and put some weight on it. DD and DH both touched it gently in different areas, making sure nothing was broken or pulled.
Thankfully, she was fine after a short while. But it put a good scare into us all. Now we’re adamant about issuing the “no jump” command, and when DH forgets, we say it for him.
Daisy, on the other hand, clearly has no intention of learning from her mistakes.
::sigh:: I think I’ll need some Miss Clairol much sooner than expected…..
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