Poor Pepper

Pepper's favorite thing to do is run. That's probably what landed him in the shelter where I rescued him in the first place. Throwing the ball in the backyard is just not enough to wear him out. So I try to take him to one of the several dog parks in the area several times a week. One of our favorites is what we affectionately call Power Pole Park. It's a huge area, completely enclosed, near Encinitas Blvd and Village Park. We were there on a recent Saturday with about a dozen other dog owners.

As soon as we arrive, I let him off the leash and Pepper starts running. He goes up to other dogs, puts out his front legs, and challenges the dogs to chase him. Pepper doesn't care how big they are. He is not afraid. On this particular day he had about six dogs chasing him within minutes. They all seemed to be having a great time, when bam! Pepper yelped and came crying back to me with his tail between his legs. One of the dogs had taken a large piece of hair out of his rib cage, which was hanging from his mouth. I didn't know it at the time, but he had also punctured the area close to his lungs. Pepper has so much hair it's hard to see what's going on under all those curls. Well, within about five minutes Pepper seemed to feel better, and he was back to running and playing. The owner of the dog who bit him apologized, but I didn't know how severe Pepper's injury was until later Saturday night. I tried to pick up Pepper and he squealed in pain. It was then that I noticed dried blood on his side and realized he'd been bitten!

The next day I called the vet and determined I needed to get him checked out. Lucky I did. The puncture was deep, had to be cleaned and stitched and bandaged. He's now resting, and will not be going back to the dog park for quite a while. We will return when he's completely healed. He just loves to run and play and I don't want to take that away from him.

For now, he can play with Lexi in our cul de sac. They love to run and play at the end of the street, and with Marlene and my watchful eyes I feel this is safe. Oh, what it must be like to have endless energy and no fear.