Heal

Healing can take a very long time. Not only physically, but also emotionally.
The dogs were at the sitter's last weekend and they got into a fight. They have gotten into fights before, but this is the first time one of the dogs had to go to the emergency vet, and the first time we weren't there to stop it. Before we've been able to pull them apart before either dog got harmed. If we don't break it up soon enough Bailey will try to run away, but Jules has a scrappy/feisty streak and will keep going after Bailey. This fight Bailey fought back, chomped Jules' neck and Jules went to the emergency vet with some deep puncture wounds. It was incredibly lucky that while the wounds are deep, none of them needed stitches and there doesn't seem to be tissue damage either. While Jules was shaken up for a while, her spirits have mostly returned to normal.  And we're also lucky that Jules didn't hurt Bailey either. Despite their size difference  it could only take one well (or ill) placed bite to take a dog down or cause some serious harm.

But.

Jules looks really bad. They had to shave her neck to get a better look at things, so you can see all the wounds and scratches and they are ugly. It's hard to see Jules with her wounds and know how lucky she was. It's also hard to look at Bailey knowing that she did that.  We honestly don't know who started the fight to begin with, but it doesn't matter. It's hard to come to terms that if the unthinkable had happened, we would have lost not one, but both our girls.

All four of us are hurting from this.  Jules is hurting from her wounds but she's also a smidgen more timid now. Bailey is confused because she's being treated as a problem dog and being blamed for everything again. It hurts my husband to see Jules hurt and Bailey's to blame. And I hurt for the same thing, but also because I'm back to being on defense for Bailey, but also completely scared I'm going to loose not just her but possibly both my dogs.    

It's so much bigger than me and Bailey anymore. I know that Bailey and Jules are just dogs, but they are my family. And I would do almost anything in the world to save my family except give up on them. Someone I work with's daughter is a miracle worker dog trainer, and we're going to start some hard core expensive training for all 4 of us. We could have sent them away for a few weeks but miracle worker is booked until mid-December (probably because she's a miracle worker), so we're opting to start the private lessons sooner. Plus that option is much more hands on for us humans which is something I think we all need. Jules' physical wounds are more than likely going to take a fairly long time to heal and that's just something we're going to have to be patient with. But I'm really hopeful that this training will help heal our little family up too.