Friday, February 27, 2009

One Eyed (Little) Jack




OK, I know, we are crazy. Our Menagerie just got a little bigger. I am going to post the e-mail that Win wrote the ladies in his office because he can write so much better than I can.

" As you know, my wife kindheartedly picked up the little guy as he was running down the middle of Upper Wetumpka Road, right after she told our 8-yr-old daughter to close her eyes because she was sure he’d be hit by a vehicle.

He wasn’t, and she brought him home. He seemed to take to me, and he doesn’t like to be alone, so I brought him to work a couple of times. I have been unsure whether we should keep him. We have 8 animals, including the lizard, and he has upset the mix a little.

I have some bad news though. I am sending this out at the end of the day because I didn’t want to depress anyone at the start of the day. Little dog seems to brighten up everyone’s day when he comes here.

My wife and I were sitting in our backyard yesterday, and Little Dog got up in my lap. He was acting fierce, growling and snapping, with our two Labs. The black male did not take it seriously, but our female, who also likes me and weighs probably 20 times as much as Little Dog, took it more seriously. I kick myself now for not stopping Little Dog, but I thought the Lab would simply growl back and warn him. However, her response was more vicious than expected. In an instant, so fast that I did not see her jaws open, she snapped at him and popped his right eyeball out of the socket. Because it was Sunday at about 3:30 or 4 pm, I rushed him to the emergency vet on Perry Hill Road, where the vet did emergency surgery. The goal was to see if they could save the eye, but they could not.

So, now we have a one-eyed dog. The two sad things are that his other eye has cataracts in it, and the trauma apparently was not helpful to his sight in that eye. Also, we thought we were rescuing him, but it appears we put him in danger at our own house.

The little guy came home this morning and is a real trooper about it all. He does not appear to be totally blind and can get around okay. I hope to bring him for a visit soon. Thought y’all would want to know."
So, we have named this dog - Little Jack. He answers to Little, but we are calling him Jack more and more. He is learning the ropes around here, getting used to the cats and we are having to house train him. He seems to want to go to the bathroom any where but he is really coming along on this. No more going in the house. When we are gone we put him in the bath room and he will go to the bathroom in the tub. He is learning.
I ran an ad in the newspaper for 2 weeks looking for his owner and I even put signs up and no one called for him. He belonged to someone, these dogs sell for about $900. But after all the money we put into him over the eye, he is ours now.
Today, he went to the groomers and had a haircut. He is so cute. Next he will be neutered even though he is about 8 or 9 it will be best for him. He will also get his teeth brushed while he is under.

He loves Win and Win loves him. I am a substitute when Win is at work.