Prelude
Friday started out looking like it was going to be one of the best days on record. Instead it turned into Tempi and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
The Ride:
As I was saying, things were looking good Friday morning when we awoke. There were a bunch of activities (packing of the car) that indicated that we were going on a road trip. And if this was indeed true, then we would escape our entrapment in our crates while the house got cleaned. But things got even better! We first got to stop by the dog park where we got in lots of good running (and swimming)…which, by the way, was a blast. I thought we had possibly entered a new higher level of existence when we pulled into the parking lot of the Deerfield Bakery. Zoe was particularly excited since after a past visit to this shop she scarfed down the good part of a loaf of cinnamon bread…and bread is her thing! Her favorite thing to say is “gimme some bread!”
It was at this point that things started getting a little weird. Shortly after mom returned from the bakery, I heard her voice in a rather unsettled tone. However, as I was pinned under Zoe in the back seat in the midst of a full on fight, I was not very responses to her quests for help. I am still not clear what exactly happened but she ended up smelling like she had gotten injured but I was not allowed to step in and do any of my medical treatments…since I was still in the midst of my brawl with Zoe.
At some point, our fight ended, mom started driving – although still in no doubt considerable discomfort – and we headed off toward Michigan and dad sat in the back seat with us and attempted to do some work. Why everyone but the driver was sitting in the back seat after the bakery is also beyond me as I only exited out the left hand side of the car.
The drive was pretty typical. We drove around Chicago, stopped in St. Joes to supercharge, walked around the parking lot and fields near Panera’s, Five Brothers burger joints, Moe’s Southwest Grill, etc…. Then we a little while later we arrived in Ann Arbor but my Michigan grandmother was not there. But grandfather (Pa) and Snowy and Tibley (another dog cousin) and other human relatives were there. Then I remembered that were in Ann Arbor to look after grandfather (Pa) over the weekend since grandmother is visiting Denmark with Aunt E. and my other aunts and cousins had been watching after him for the past week. See Pa can’t travel such long distances right now and grandmother’s twin brother is also having some health issues that limits his ability to travel…and they were able to share a birthday together during the visit. So Zoe and I quickly adapted to the different surroundings and swore to do our best to help out where we could. In fact, Zoe even tolerated being on a long lead in the backyard to prevent her from jumping over or running through the fences that surround the garden.
Five Minutes of Craziness
Then things went a little wild when Zoe and I saw a squirrel out the front door that somehow had been opened by one not aware of our prowess. We got revved up looking at that little fur bucket taunting us thinking we were locked in the house. Little did he know that Zoe had learned how to break out of doors at our doggy training sessions after watching the German Shepherds get out through a closed door. In this particular case however, the screen door did not latch, and so while poor mom saw the scene unfolding and ran to us to hold the door shut it was at the time when the squirrel turned its back; Zoe and I took off after him. Sneaky little guy went right up a tree and out of reach. This didn’t stop us though. We ran and ran and ran around the street in the rain for a mere minute or less and then got a call from our parents to return home. I did immediately return to mother while Zoe dashed off behind the neighbors house toward the street beyond. Uncharacteristically she came rapidly charging back home and settled down with one of our human cousins, the Great E. Dad shortly joined them at which point Cousin E. and the Scribe noticed blood on her paw, her face and coming from her mouth. Then her breathing started sounding raspy and dad decided not to waste any time and off they went to the local emergency clinic. Dad was smart enough to bring his wallet but not enough to grab his phone as well.
The Three Zoes
In the meantime, more of our extended pack arrived for a big family meal and I was right there amongst them ready for my share… after mom was done reprimanding me for my escape and romp around the neighborhood (not really, but it makes me sound cool). Time passed and we had heard nothing from Dad or Zoe. Mother, being the wisest among us, did a “find my iPhone” and lo and behold it was lying in front of the TV in the living room where he was trying to re-login to Netflix on their AppleTV. Hmmm. No way to contact him even in this day and age of total connectivity. Guess they’ll have to return to the old fashioned form of communication…a face to face chat.
So Uncle Esteban drove mom over to the vet station and they entered the waiting room and asked where they could find Zoe and her dad. The people at the front desk looked at them and with a flat affect ask: “Which one. We have three Zoe’s here now.”
Looking for GoodMom
Obviously, all of this is second hand information since I was still at my grandparents since I was the good dog and returned when called…without getting injured. But from what I gathered this is what happened:
Zoe had either got in a fight with a racoon/possum and would thus have to have a rabies booster (even though she just was vaccinated last Saturday), jumped a fence and missed her mark because of the rain (one popular family theory because they have seen her jumping videos), or she was winged by a car. The last option was the most likely based on her injuries – this coming from the professionals. She had to spend the night because the x-rays suggested that she had bruised and partially collapsed lungs.
In the middle of the night, or depending on when you go to bed, early the next morning (1:36 AM) mom got a call that they had to stick her chest cavity to excise a large volume of air… and to be ready to take her to another, more advanced clinic at any point in case she needed higher level care. The rule of the current emergency hospital (and based on subsequent research the prevailing wisdom) is after three pokes go to chest tubes to drain air. This would be at another locale. And if/when the call comes please act quickly. Continue to sleep with the phone on by the bed (and who slept after that?).
So, come the next morning – not the 1 AM time frame but a time Dad would generally respond to things – the Vet called again and it was time to take Zo-Bug another locale. The vest tried to find somehwere closer to home but they were too far away (not a lot of time), and so my parents picked East Lansing…and the vet said NOW! After a short series of checks about who would tend to my grandfather, my parents were out of here…donned completely in typical weekend University of Michigan garb – sweatshirts, sweatpants, hat, etc. Did I mention they were going to East Lansing? And UofM and MSU aren’t on particularly friendly when it comes to athletic events. This was totally missed by them. Looser they are…
I was worried and was on watch for hours:
I kept an eye out the front window from my perch in this comfy chair and even when I took a break and laid down to listen to grandfather read his book to me, my ears were dialed in to any car noises that would indicate their return. And as time continued to pass in which they did not return, I took a moment to go downstairs to retrieve the shirt dad was wearing when Zoe got injured and brought it up to my bed aside my Throne.
Then, thanks to the cloud, I saw on our computer this picture of Zoe’s trip up to the East Lansing with my parents and my concern for her well being increased exponentially…the red tube out her nose, the Elizabethan collar, the shaved spot on her side, the neon green bandage on her wrist…this did not look good.
From what I heard, when Zoe got to the clinic, the staff wheeled out a gurney to bring her into the building because they didn’t know how mobile she would be. Once placed on the board and strapped down, Zoe perked her head up, looked around at everything and everyone in the area, started to get up but then realized she was being transported like Cleopatra (or the new king of Thailand) and settled into her new regal status.
MSU is the Home of the Giant dog
The next day, I went for a drive with Mom and Dad which was exciting for the first 20 minutes or so but I may have nodded off for a bit on the hour trip up to The Small Animal Clinic. I saw that the right door was labeled “Felines” – which made total sense that to me but the left door was labeled “Canines.” I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with Snowy these past few days so I could see that some dogs might qualify for this clinic but surely Zoe (and I) are large animals. Even at the dog park we tend to be among the larger dogs – although that one Great Dane we played with the other day was on a different scale…or so I thought.
Before Dad and I entered the clinic we went for a short stroll to see if I had to pee or anything after the car ride. That is when I saw probably the biggest dog in the world! This guy was eating grass and not getting yelled at by the people walking him – which always happens to me when I chomp the occasional blade.
This thing was all muscle and stood about as tall (or more so) than those cows we chased last summer in New Mexico before we got our leashes put back on…but that is a story for a different day.
Turns out, once I got a good sniff of this thing it was clear it was not a dog after all. Once I got to my iPad I found out that they are called H-O-R-S-E’s (which I thought was a game one played with a basketball – but come to think of it, he’s probably tall enough to be a pretty good player). And it also explains why us dogs go to the small animal clinic – assuming they also have a large animal clinic for horses, cows, etc.
Patient 704189
I wasn’t too sure about her since she had all these bandages, a thing hanging out her nose, a bunch of patches of her hair missing and she didn’t smell like herself at all…that is until I sniffed her butt at which point I definitely knew it was her. I tended to keep my distance though since she was doing a lot of whimpering when she took a breath and her back legs started shaking too. So since my parents didn’t bring my throne with us, I just took my spot in the most fitting looking chair I could find.
Update: we visited Zoe again yesterday (Tuesday May 21st) and she had a lot more energy, didn’t seem to be in much pain, and even rolled on her back for some good tummy rubs. Unfortunately she still has some air in her chest cavity so she has to stay at least one more night :(.
Three Dogs and the Two Girls who saved them
When mom, dad, and I got back to Ann Arbor, there was a large part of our pack with grandfather at his house. I started to get real excited because I heard mention of getting B-B-Que from Zingermann’s Roadhouse. The last two times we ordered from there Zoe and I got some good plates to clean…which was a good things since when we went to pick up all the food with our parents, the packages were all placed in the “frunk” so all we had access to was the odors as they wafted through the car.
This time, I was not invited to go along on the trip to pick up the goods since Snowy’s mom took my spot. As it turned out, this was a good thing based on the story they told upon their return. See, when the got to the end of the street they spotted a woman running down the middle of a much busier street than the one on which Zoe was likely hit. In front of her was not one, not two, but three dogs running down the street between cars -most of which had come to a complete stop. Dad took a right instead of a left in order to follow them. At the next intersection he took a left because it looked as if they might turn down an alleyway between two apartment complexes. They sped around the turn, cautious that the pack may be approaching. On reaching the alley they thought the dogs may decent, they slowed down to creep speed in search of the trio. Once they reached the top of the alley they found that two young girls were playing there. Two of the dogs immediately ran up to them while the third ran circles around the girls, the other dogs, and as it turns out, his grandmother who had recently caught up with the pups. This is when my dad and Aunt K showed up. Dad jumped out with a treat and left the back door open hoping to entice the still wayward dog into the car- the other two having been already secured by the two girls. This little imp didn’t go for the treat or the old open door trick – obviously a not very well trained pooch. Finally, one of the girls got a hold of his collar and their mother/grandmother started down the sidewalk in a crouched position with the trio (these were not tall dogs). It was at this point that dad realized he had Zoe’s leash in the car – still there after his dash to the emergency vet on Friday. Hooking Zoe’s leash onto one of the younger dogs collars and then looping it through the other ones, the lady was able to manage those two. Dad was then able to pick up the third and older dog, a basset hound sort of guy, and they all piled into our car for the short ride to her house. We think it was the small, old legs of the hound which limited the distance the pack traveled. But the real hero’s were the two African-American girls who calmed them down and were able to get a hold of them.
After helping the woman get the dogs in her house (dad overhearing a lot of “bad dogs!” – something I know nothing about 
), dad and Aunt K started back on the road to the Roadhouse. However, after they had backed out of her driveway but before they had got the car in drive, the woman had come back outside and picked up her glass of red wine – giving a cheers gesture. Yes cheers to the two girls!
The Tempest Goes Stir Crazy
Despite the fact that Snowy was around much of the extended weekend, the two of us tend not to brawl and chase each other in the same way Zoe and I do. This left me with some unspent energy which had build up. I was doing a lot of fetch with one or the other of my parents, playing tug with them, going for an occasional walk, and other parent/dog pastimes – which includes serving me meals of course. Their efforts, however, did not fully engage my mental faculties so I did some house cleaning (Swifter rags), some yard work (a pot or two moved about and possibly shredded), and some laundry (took a pair of dad’s jeans out through the dog door and into the garden). In short, I may have gotten a bit antsy without my sister to rough house with.
The Pack Together
On Monday night, after we were supposed to have left for Chicago, my grandmother and aunt returned from Denmark. It was great to see them and have all the Michigan crowd together again…but we still missed Zoe. Soon we will be reunited with her too – she just needs that one little hole to heal up – and then in a week or two we’ll be back to running through our yard and the dog park! If she would just relax a little maybe the healing would happen faster. But if you’ve been following us you probably already know her – Ms. Energy!
Sorry for the long – possibly disjointed – entry but I apparently had a lot to say and may of had trouble getting dad to focus on the transcriptions over the course of the last few days.
The Real Tragedy
But, the real part of Tempi’s Terrible day was on the ride to Michigan on Friday when my Dad read us an email he received at work about the brother of a friend and coworker. An update on the story can be found at this link:
We are fortunate that although our pack might be a bit bruised and sore we’ll all be back together in our home in a day or so. This, unfortunately is not true for this family of a true hero. We are going to contribute to their GoFundMe campaign but it really doesn’t seem enough – especially given how lucky we were that things weren’t worse for us this weekend.
gofundme.com/afd-mitch-lundgaard-family-fund.
Peace to all,
The Tempest
Montana Moments 