September is here...where has the year gone?

Sorry for the delay in posts...it has been a pretty hectic time lately. Alex and Gracie have has domination troubles lately. They have fought over treats several times and on Friday morning, August 25th, they got into it pretty bad. Julie and I had to rush Gracie to the vet. We had to leave her so they could take care of her wounds.

Four stitches in her left front leg and over $300, we picked her up and took her home. Over the following weekend one of her stitches broke and the gash on her leg opened back up a little.

That Sunday, Julie and I attended our beginners road ride. Our friends Brian and Jeri came out as well. The night before i helped Brian install "slick" tires on their mountain bikes to make the bikes more efficient for road riding.

I have had a busy time at work for the past couple of weeks as well. We have had a lot of new clients sign up for our services. The days have seemed to fly by!

Thursday, Julie's company was displaying at a local trade show so she had taken the car downtown. After I was finished with work for the day, I went out into the back yard with the girls. It was a beautiful evening. Gracie was feeling better and more playful after her incident from the week before and she and Daisy were rough-housing a little.

A problem arose when Daisy's growls and barks sounded like she was in distress, even though she was not, and Alex decided she needed to protect her litter-mate. Alex charged into Gracie and they got tangled up in the biggest fight yet. I tried to get them apart by soaking them with water from the hose, but that didn't even slow them down. After what seemed an eternity of wrestling with them, I got them apart.

Gracie was hurt pretty bad, and being without a car, I called my friend Brian to come and take us to the vet. While waiting for him to get here, I changed into dry clothes and then took Gracie out front to wait for him.

We arrived at the vet just after 7:00 pm, so of course it is billed as an after hours emergency visit. Julie and I picked her up Friday afternoon. She now has one of those cone head collars to wear so she won't lick her wounds.

I have called a dog trainer that was recommended to me so we can try and resolve these issues. We love all three of our dogs, and they seem to love each other as well, but this occasional fighting must stop...for the dogs health and the health of our checking account. We spent over $1,000 on vet bills in eight days.