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Health & Fitness

Snow Day!

Recently, I had a funny experience here at the hospital with a dog in the snow. As you know, the January snowstorm caused all sorts of problems in and around Atlanta. I had performed surgery on a puppy the morning of SnowJam 2014. The dog did great and recovered very well, but because of the weather his owner could not pick him up, so he had to stay the night with us.

From the pup’s perspective, it must have been quite an experience! One of my employees, J.R., tried to get home but could not, so came back and slept at our office. Since our recently neutered friend was a little vocal, J.R. ended up sleeping with him in one of our exam rooms. He said that the puppy was so happy and cuddled up with him all night. I am sure this pup was thinking, “Well, I came to the vet, fell asleep, woke up with some strange thing around my neck (the e-collar), got some really good drugs - I feel great! - and now I get to hang out with Mister J.R. all night. This is not all bad.” 

However, it was not all fun and games for my furry patient, as he had not yet been outside. When I took him out for a short walk, he had obviously never seen snow before. He was happy and excited to go out, but as soon as I opened the door he charged forward, took one look at the snow, did an immediate 180, and literally dove back into my arms. For me, it was a flash of wagging tail-turns-into-40-lb.-puppy-with-the-cone-of-shame-flying-through-the-air-headed-right-for-my-chest…BAM! Usually I am pretty good at catching things, but between the dog’s airborne momentum, the e-collar, and the ice, I fell over when the pup landed in my arms. So there we were, me lying on my back with this dog standing on top of me, using me as lifeboat from the snow. I could not help but chuckle as I got up and dusted myself off. I gently encouraged my furry but not-so-brave friend to actually walk in the snow and use the bathroom. Things were looking good, and I think the dog was actually having some fun figuring out the white stuff, when he started to run and put his head down. Unfortunately, he forgot he had an e-collar on, and when he started running face down, it acted like a snowplow. When he turned and looked back at me, I almost died laughing – he was a literal snow cone! It was a sight I won’t soon forget. I quickly removed the collar and dried him off, but he took one look out at the yard and dashed back to his kennel. 

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So, after his experience here, I do not think this fella will be entering the Iditarod anytime soon.  However, I do recommend that his next Halloween costume be a snow cone – he wears it well.

I bet there are other funny dog snow stories out there; post a comment and let us hear them!

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