lucky hound

for the last 2 years i have been the proud mama of a boxer named marley. i adopted marley from a boxer rescue when he was around 2ish years old. i don't really know the story of his first 2 years, other than he was found wandering the streets of watts, underweight, malnourished, and no home. a teacher found him and turned him into the rescue. a few months later, he was mine! as his "mom", i of course think he is the greatest thing in the world. he has been my constant companion for the last 2 years and you know what they say about dogs being (wo)man's best friend...so true. all he wants is love and he will be by your side no matter what.

with that being said, he is not the brightest dog there ever was, the sharpest tool in the drawer, however you want to say it. he has his fair share of "issues". i find them endearing most of the time, other times, he's just plain old stupid and thick headed...literally. he runs into walls and tables with his head all the time and doesn't even skip a beat.

i live in a house on a fairly busy street and no fenced in yard. marley has actually done pretty well with not running off, but when marley sees something he wants, he has an eye single to the glory and nothing and no one can get between him and "the goal". i have tried to train him not to run in the street, but it's hit or miss if he decides to listen. a few days ago, while watching out the screen door, he saw a guy walking a dog across the screen. marley took off after the dog (our screen door wasn't latched), not seeing the busy street that lie between him and the dog. along came a truck, the same time as marley, and BAM! guess who won? now i didn't see this happen, so this is all second hand. but the story goes, the truck side swiped my poor, stupid boy, ripping his collar off, knocking him to the ground, leaving him with some nice road rash, a hurt leg, and a majorly chipped tooth. but don't think that left marley down for the count. oh no, he was right back up chasing after the dog as soon as the truck passed.

here are some of the pictures of the damage...

road rash on his leg and chin...

the chipped canine tooth. notice the dark spot on the tooth. that is the exposed root. the reason the tooth had to come out.

look how docile and sad he looks. poor guy.

the vet cleaned up the road rash and a couple days later, the leg didn't seem to tender, but that chipped tooth was a problem. it fractured down beneath the gums and the root was exposed, which equals major possibility for infection! verdict was, the tooth had to come out. for those of you who know my dog, or boxers for that matter, they don't have a lot of teeth to begin with, and this was one of his 4 canine teeth. poor guy, has to loose one of the few teeth he has.

yesterday was the day. i dropped marley off at the vet at 7am, and didn't seem him until after 7pm. it was a loooong day, for both of us. i was a little teary dropping him off (he's my kid, give me a break!), and my sister picked him up because i had to work. she was nice enough to come by my work so i could see him and see that he was okay. he seemed fine. maybe a little drugged from the anesthesia, but for the most part, his same old self, minus a tooth.

here is an after pick of the tooth surgery...

notice the lack of a tooth there in his mouth. now the poor kid has only 3 of his canine teeth.

so all in all, he's still my boy, minus a tooth, and oh, about $700+! get dog insurance people, i highly recommend it! and now that i know he's going to survive, i want to give him a serious beating for being so naughty. i hope he learned his lesson not to run in the street, but sadly, i doubt it.