A Dog Owner’s Nightmare

You take the good for granted. Tonight, Julie and I came home to anything but good.

Julie usually gets home before me but tonight she had to do some grocery shopping so we literally walked in the door at the same time. Almost in unison, we said, "What's that smell?" We agreed there were a few dishes in the sink & though there was no cauliflower in there (that's what the smell made us think of), we were sure that had to be it. Then, I went to retrieve Cooper.

Cooper has always stayed in a roomy kennel when we're away. I got to the doorway of that room and I knew it was no sink. The smell about knocked me over backwards. Then I saw Cooper. His normally white feet were brown. The cushioned dog bed he lays on was 100% covered with uh, something. Ok, I've gone far enough with the description.

What next? An immediate trip to the bathtub. I picked Cooper up out of the kennel and carried him in. The kid was a mess. A 30-minute bath was in order. While Julie handled that, I got a large garbage bag and loaded up his bed, bound for a thorough cleaning followed by a trip to the washing machine.

When the fella got done with his bath, we continued kennel cleanup, totally blind to the fact the kid needed to go to the bathroom. He was dehydrated, right? Wrong. Cooper began to pee in the hallway. WHAT NEXT?! I got him off the carpet and let him finish the job on the bathroom linoleum, fully realizing my error. Mad at him? Nope, mad at myself. Time to clean that up, so back to the tub for Cooper.

When we finally got him outside, he had a couple more "issues." I finally got him back inside and he seems to feel fine, but we are on 100% high alert. My final task was to hose the patio. I turned the water on and the top half of the hose reel nozzle broke into two pieces. WHAT NEXT?! I honestly don't think I want to know. Our big hope is it doesn't involve the Sheltie we love so much.