This was near the end of a very wet hike. I was taking pictures and looked down to find CBS looking back up at me: "Can we go home NOW?"
CBS will be 15 years old in June. Anyone who has never met my dog thinks I am mean for describing her as Cute but Stupid. Then they meet her. And they understand. It's not totally her fault. English setters as a breed just are not that bright. They are loving and loyal and wholly, entirely devoted to their people. But not that bright. CBS was also abused by her former owner; she has some resulting damage to her throat (choke chain, I'm guessing) so she may also have a smidge of brain damage. Plus now she's getting senile.
But she's damn cute.
Anyhow, I rescued CBS when she was almost seven, and as long as I have had her she has had this Freaky Toe. It is the pinky toe on one of her back legs and it kind of looks like her toenail got run over at some point in her life. It's flat and it's wide and it's this odd brownish-grayish color with ridges. Did you ever see that episode of House where it turned out this woman had developed scurvy from dieting, which House diagnosed when he saw her nasty looking ridged brownish-grayish fingernails? It kinda looks like that.
Like most dogs, CBS does not like her nails trimmed. In her younger days, we used to go hiking a lot and consequently she got bathed a lot during which time I trimmed her nails. We rarely go hiking together anymore because (a) she's going blind, deaf and senile on top of already not being that bright so she loses me easily and (b) Schmart Dog has a bad hip so she can't go more than a half a mile now. Because of this, baths are less frequent and so are nail trimmings.
And apparently Freaky Toe got a little long. I came home the other night to find blood all over the living room. Big drops of bright, red blood. My first reaction was, this better not have come out of anybody's butt. Because, as you know, bright red blood and bums do not bode well for any species. So, I checked under tails and no blood. Then I started checking paws. I thought it was Schmart Dog as she hangs outside in the yard more frequently (CBS likes her creature comforts) and I had recently trimmed her nails (she twitches and her nails are black, making it more likely that I'll hit the quick) but it wasn't.
It was then I realized that it must be Freaky Toe.
And it was. A few years ago, Freaky Toe started to fall out of its pinky toe home. I don't know how, I don't know why, but it suddenly got exponentially longer and then it partially broke deep down in the quick and there was blood and a vet trip to remove the nail and a vet bill. Not fun for any of us.
I had thought that that was the end of Freaky Toe, seeing as how the vet had removed it (the nail, not the toe), but like a foot zombie Freaky Toe was reborn. And on we went, without incident, until last week.
I got CBS to let me look at the nail. Thankfully, it didn't seem to have snapped like last time. Most likely, she had caught it on the carpet and it started to bleed. Ironically, I had just tried to trim Freaky Toe a few days before and she wouldn't let me. That'll learn you, I told her. I tried then to trim it but it was too sore. I figured it needed to heal a bit and it would be fine. But first, I needed to protect it from incessant licking; last time, she licked it so much she licked away all the hair and had a big sore on the rest of her foot.
And so, the return of Socky Foot.
Yes, that is a crew sock held onto my dog's leg by an old scrunchie. My life is nothing if not entertaining.
Socky Foot requires a lot of maintenance. Mostly it's me yelling "Quit licking your Socky Foot!" "Leave your Socky Foot alone!" and "Come here and let me get your Socky Foot off before you go outside." I also have to change Socky Foot on a regular basis, both to put a little antibiotic ointment on it and because it gets all wet and yucky from her licking it when I'm not around. That is when we assume the position:
Also accompanied by me yelling "Give me your Socky Foot!" "Hold still while I fix your Socky Foot!"
Thankfully, Freaky Toe seems to be healing nicely. After about a day I was able to trim it down some, and then in another day I was able to get it even shorter. (This is also why no pictures of Freaky Toe. I know, you're sad you missed it.) If I can keep her from licking the damn thing, we should be Socky Foot free by the weekend.
Thus concludes the saga of Freaky Toe and Socky Foot. Please remember to tip your waitress and try the veal!
Getting back to your regular programming, I had my five mile run this morning. For running 60 times around a tiny little circle, it went pretty well. I had hoped to finish in under an hour and I missed it by two minutes and change. I did stop several times for water so that probably did it. Under an hour is also my goal for this weekend's 8K run.
When dowloading the Freaky Toe and Socky Foot pictorial, I also downloaded the pics I took on Sunday's long run. So I will close with those. Note there are bridges EVERYWHERE!!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Poor doggy!!!!
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