Cynical Nation

Zora, our black lab, will pick up almost any random object and chew on it if we don't watch her continuously. Mrs. Cynic, Zora and I all went to Mrs. Cynic's art studio this weekend to help set some things up.

Zora loved it there, as there was much to explore. The problem was, since it's a shared space, there are some pretty random objects lying about. I heard a commotion on the other side of the room and noticed Zora was thrashing her head from side to side, and there was something green and plastic in her mouth. I told her to drop it, and then realized she couldn't. It appeared to be stuck on her teeth or something. I reached down to try to remove whatever it was and she thrashed her head violently again, and my fingers came back bleeding. When I forced her to calm down and sit still, I saw that she had gotten hold of a fishing lure with two barbed treble hooks. One of the hooks had pierced the skin of her lip and was stuck there.

We had to calm her down because every time she would panic, she would thrash her head about, which we were afraid would just make things worse (by lodging the second hook in her mouth, for example.)

Zora was a real brave doggie, and never cried, but just sat with her head down and looked somewhat forlorn while we kept her calm. She needed to be soothed constantly to keep her from freaking out, and Mrs. Cynic and I took turns at this while the other would run about looking for wire cutters. Finally, we were unable to find any suitable tool to help us, so it looked like we were going to have to take her to the emergency vet a few blocks away.

The problem was, every time we turned loose of her she would start thrashing again! It seemed the only way to get her there safely was to carry her. I picked her up and started walking. She was fine for about 50 yards or so, and then she got spooked in my arms and started thrashing again. At this point, Mrs. Cynic reached over to calm her and the lure's other hook caught on her coat sleeve. One more wag of Zora's head and, before we knew what had happened, the lure was safely yanked from Zora's mouth and hanging on Mrs. Cynic's coat sleeve.

Zora was back to normal immediately, and wanted to jump and play, but the wife and I were still a little freaked out. "Welcome to the wonderful world of dog ownership," I told my wife (Zora is her first.) We can probably look forward to 10 or 12 years of this kind of excitement.

That afternoon, we rewarded her with a chicken pot pie dinner and some nice treats because she'd been so traumatized. Here's a picture of her later that evening, safe at home and back to normal.