So, this morning things were good. I got out of bed as usual, took the dogs for their morning walk.
They all did well. Major Tom marked his territory, Sirocco tried charging ahead at full speed, Magdalena only tried dragging me down the street once.
Sirocco in particular was his usual ‘happy happy, joy joy’ self. He gets all excited when I take him out the door. Before I even get the leash on him he does a few warm-up laps around the backyard. He squeals, jumps, but eventually holds still long enough to get the leash on him. Then its out the gate, barking so everyone in the neighborhood knows he’s out for his walk.
This morning we had an appointment so we left the dogs in the house. Nothing usual about that.
We went out and did our stuff, then returned home. We got more stuff done around the house, and the wife worked on one of her books, and I ran a few more errands. The dogs tend to lie around the house or go in and out the back door or do the occasional bout of roughhousing. Again, nothing out of the ordinary.
This evening I was getting ready to make dinner. I usually get the dogs fed first and they tend to hang around my feet as I prepare their food. But not tonight. I got their food, put the bowls down, and none of them even came into the kitchen to eat.
Sirocco went to the living room to get on the wife’s chair. (It’s his favorite.) He was having some trouble jumping up. He can do it by himself, but other times he sits and whines so I’ll come over and help him up. I figured that was the case so I went to put him on the chair. When I picked him up he squealed loudly. I put him on the chair and checked for injuries. I thought maybe I caught one his nails on the edge or something but no signs of injury. I checked his legs – nothing. I was running my hand over his ribs when he squealed again.
Uh oh.
Magdalena was on the floor and Major Tom was in another room. None of them were acting normal. She got up and Major Tom came into the room. When Magdalena tried to go towards Sirocco, Major Tom got in the way, snarling, preventing her from getting near Sirocco.
As best as I can figure Magdalena attacked Sirocco while we were out. I can’t see signs that she bit him (Sirocco won’t let me get close enough to check if I try to look). The two of them play together all the time, but Magdalena gets rough. She thinks grabbing Sirocco by the tail and pulling him backwards through the house is fun. She stomps on him with her paws. She grabs him by the scruff of the neck and pulls. I always put a stop to that immediately when I see it. I don’t want her thinking he is ‘prey’ and slinging him around util his neck breaks.
We’ll have to call the vet early tomorrow morning and see if we can get Sirocco an appointment. Our vet is the only person Sirocco has ever snapped at. I don’t think his reaction will be any better if he’s injured. We’ll see how things go.
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