Trip To The Dog Park

While we were at the clubhouse Sunday, watching the NASCAR race, a lady came up and asked if I was "one of the Linda's". I said "Yes, I am". Apparently Linda had told someone that we were looking for a dog park and this woman wanted to give us info on a dog park she had found. The weather report said it was going to be a nice day today so Linda and I wanted to take Boomer to the dog park so he could run and get some exercise.

As we learned from one of the guys at the park, this park is pretty new. It was located near Spring Hill, in a suburban section of town. The rotary club had built it and there are several different sections, based on the size of the dogs. Boomer's weight categorizes him as a large dog but compared to the dogs in that area today, he was small. It must have been Great Dane Day at the park as there were four or five Great Danes there and Boomer was very small in comparison to them. He found one or two dogs to run with but the Danes stayed together in their own little group (thank goodness). As we were walking back through the park to a picnic table a boxer approached a man that was sitting there and jumped up on him. When we got closer to this gentleman, we saw that this dog had cut his forearm with his toe nails. It left a pretty long gash so Linda went to the truck and got our first aid kit and bandaged his arm up. It was a good thing we had some gauze and disinfectant wipes with us as this guys arm was bleeding and needed protection from germs and dirt in the area. He was thankful for her help.

When Boomer started hiding under the table from some of the dogs, we could tell he had enough and wanted to go home. It wasn't until we got home that we noticed his one eye seems swollen and isn't open as far as the other one. I've wiped it several times with a wet, warm washcloth but we'll see how it looks in the morning. We can't see any scratches or any problem with it but perhaps one of the dogs scratched him when they were roughhousing at the park. When we first arrived down here we had researched vets in the area as Boomer missed getting two of his shots, which we typically get done in Williamsport over the Christmas holiday. Since we didn't make it home for the holidays he didn't get to go to his regular vet for his annual checkup so we called this afternoon and made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon for him. That way he can get his shots and if his eye is still bothering him, we can get that looked at. We're hoping it's nothing serious....he's such a sweet guy. He doesn't act like he's in any discomfort but something isn't "right" with him....he's a little clingy and wants a lot of lap time. Tomorrow we'll get him fixed up and if he's OK we'll go back to the park after our appointment and let him run some more. Maybe this time we'll sneak him into the little dog side and let him run with the zippy Jack Russell's and the other ones that aren't as aggressive.