A Harrowing Day!

We almost lost one of our doggies today. We have a 19-month old GSD/Husky mix, and an 8-month old GSD/Husky/Golden Retriever mix. Both girls are spayed, obviously, and their energy levels know NO bounds. They are constantly playing and wrestling, and play-fighting, complete with barking and Husky-howling. We generally keep an eye on them, and break them up if it gets too intense (ie, when one of them yips or screeches in pain).

Today, I was down in the basement hanging up laundry on the clothesline, my kids were in the basement playroom and my husband was upstairs in the family room watching TV. All of the windows were open since the weather is sunny and breezy and 70*.

I heard my husband yelling, "HEY! HEY! HEY!" in a panicked voice, and then I heard the sliding glass door to the backyard slam open, and my husband kept yelling. We all ran up out of the basement, and my husband screamed for me to come help him. Apparently, the girls were doing their usual Wild Husky Freakout wrestling match, and LittleGirl got her bottom jaw stuck in BigGirl's collar. She couldn't get unstuck, so she was choking BigGirl, and both girls panicked. Natural instinct kicked in, and they were fighting like wild wolves.

My husband and I got BigGirl's collar off, and got the girls into the house. I was crying. We cleaned the blood off their faces, inspected the wounds, and we all sat on the kitchen floor for about half an hour to calm down and regroup. It was another two hours before the girls stopped being scared of each other. I had to take them up to my bed and we all cuddled - BigGirl at the foot of the bed, LittleGirl on the pillows, and me in between.

The only good thing that came out of this was all the hugs. BigGirl does NOT like HuskyHugs, but LittleGirl is a cuddle-bug. While we were up resting on my bed, BigGirl got right up in my arms, and let me hug her the WHOLE time. After we got up, she barked play-barks at LittleGirl, and they slowly began to get re-acquainted. It was like the first day they met - they were very tentative, and LittleGirl kept bowing to BigGirl. I cried again.

Both dogs are well now, and are back to being best friends and playing like normal, but Mommy is STILL freaked out. I'm just SO thankful that my husband is between jobs right now (he's on terminal leave from the military, awaiting retirement in December), and was home to hear the fracas and save both girls' lives.

I will be out of town for work this weekend, but I am working on both girls' adoption stories, and hope to post them here soon. :)