The Dog of Steel

Meet SuperCooper, the luckiest dog in Tucson, Arizona!

Last week it was a trip to the Emergency Vet, where he was diagnosed with a case of HGE (Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis). Thankfully, that was cleared up with some antibiotics and some TLC. I also threw away every bone and rawhide chew that they had in their toy box, just in case.

But this little guy had his second brush with death in less than 2 weeks on Sunday evening. We were outside just about sundown, cleaning the insides of the cars. I was feeling bad that we'd been ignoring the puppies all weekend, between the new car and the yard sale. So I let them out in the front yard: something I generally never do unless they are on leashes. Our yard is fenced, but there is no gate across the driveway.

They were sitting in the car with me while I applied Armor-All to the dashboard. But all it took was 3 seconds of not paying attention, when our neighbor yelled "HEY! Your dog is in the street!" Sure enough, a stray dog had wandered into the street and Cooper (being the tough-guy that he is) ran out to investigate. Ib was on a dead run for the street, calling Cooper's name. I was watching the whole ordeal unfold in the rear view mirror...frozen with terror.

There was a car coming. The driver was blowing the horn but not slowing down, even with Ib standing in the street. Cooper is a pretty fast dog, and he knew he was in trouble when he saw Ib coming after him. So he came running back towards the yard. But the car was faster. I heard the "thud" and saw Cooper tumbling across the pavement.

At that point, I was running towards the street. Cooper was sitting at the end of the driveway. He sort of shook himself off and ran over and jumped into my arms. He was obviously shook up, but there was not a scratch on him. The front bumper just clipped his hindquarter and sent him rolling back into the driveway. How he escaped the front tire, I will never know. The driver never stopped or turned around.

For the rest of the night, he was limping off-and-on. And upon inspection of his rump, it was pretty tender. I'm sure he's got quite the bruise under that fur. Ib and I really thought he would be stiff the next morning, but he was jumping around like nothing had happened. It's been 2 days now, and he hasn't even given it a second thought.

It was absolutely my fault. Worst.Dog.Mom.Ever.

I never should have let them in the front yard. And they will not be out there unleashed ever again. Right now we are just thankful for the happy ending to our doggy tail.


June 6, 2009 - In Memory of our Schnauzer friend Jetty Klein

All dogs go to Heaven.