The other night I was getting ready to go out to karaoke, and the sole remaining task was to take my dog out. I took her down the stairs, and as I approached the lobby another dog in the lobby broke free from its owner and chased after us.
There was a brief tussle between the two before the other owner took control of their dog. I did a quick inspection of my dog and all seemed fine. The other owner apologized and I continued on with our walk.
As I was returning from the walk I noticed a spot of blood. I took my dog into the bathroom and discovered some wounds that had been hidden by her fur. They were serious enough to require stitches. “Here we go again,”, I thought, and I loaded her into the car.
(My dog has a still-definitively-undiagnosed medical condition that causes her skin to tear easily when injured, so even a slight scratch can quickly turn major. Which is probably why there were no noticeable wounds at first. She’s been sewn, stapled, taped, and glued up dozens of times. It’s become almost routine.)
I took her to Mission MedVet, the closest 24-hour emergency vet I know about, and checked her in. She already had a nice, thick file there. They looked her over, the told me it’d take about 45 minutes to stitch her up.
To kill time I walked across the street to Nighthawks Coffee for a somewhat average and somewhat overpriced mocha latte. On my way to the coffee shop I spotted some telltale neon. “Hey, I found a bar I haven’t been to yet!” I said aloud. :)
I quickly finished my coffee and then proceeded around the corner to Keyhole Tavern. This very tiny dive was packed due to a basketball game on the big screen, and the only open seat required me to stay crouched so as to not block the view. I only stayed for one drink. That was okay, it was almost dog time anyway.
I returned to the vet and picked up my groggy, staple-laden dog…

By 9:45 I had her back home. Knowing from many past experiences that she’d be fine, I put a t-shirt on her to keep her from licking the wounds, and managed to get to karaoke in time for the last two rounds of songs. :)
It sucks that my dog got torn up, but it doesn’t bother her any, she’s used to it. She’s healing up pretty well. And, the way I see it, at least I got a new bar out of the deal. :)