Bathtime and a broken tail

Well to say the least, it has been a traumatic day.

First of all, I gave both dogs a bath today. Charlie is used to bath time because he has been to the groomer a bunch and usually behaves. Since this was Sheldon's first bath (with me, I'm not sure if Debbie gave him a bath before he moved up here), I thought it would be a good idea to give Charlie a bath first. That way Sheldon could see the way a good boy behaves.

Charlie did his part and put on a good show for Sheldon. Then it came time for them to trade places. And remember, Sheldon is very fluffy. I always say that his hair makes up a majority of his body mass. You can imagine how eager I was to see what he looked like soaking wet. I wasn't disappointed!

Mr. Cooper was not pleased with the bath. He hated it. I had the hardest time even just getting all of his hair wet! You know how ducks have those protective layers of feathers to keep their down and skin dry? That was exactly how his hair was. He squealed the whole time and tried to escape. I did my best to hurry and rinse and get that poor little baby out of the tub as quickly as possible. He probably still has quite a bit of shampoo left on him to be honest.


If you think bath time is bad, just wait til you hear what comes next. When Shane and I were coming home from the mall this evening, Sheldon tried to make a break for it out our front door. Our door is very heavy and self-closing. I didn't even realize he was going outside until it was too late.


Only not all of him made it...his poor little tail got caught. From the way he yelped, we both thought he had broken his back or something. We rushed him to the Pet ER at our vet and they said that luckily everything seemed to be okay. As long as he isn't in pain, it shouldn't bother him. We have to monitor him pretty closely for the next week or so and make sure there is no strange behavior, like chewing on it, etc. I'm really hoping it doesn't get worse, because then they might have to cut the little tip of his tail off!

It's kinda hard to tell because he's so fluffy and this is a terrible photo (should be able to see it bigger if you click on it), but if you look right at the end of the arrow you'll see the broken part of the tail. It almost makes a 90° angle to itself. So far he doesn't act like it's bothering him. It doesn't even seem to hurt him if you touch it gently. His tail might be a little crooked for the rest of his life, but hopefully he'll at least get to keep all of it.

Here's hoping that tomorrow is just a little less exciting than today.