The neighbors dog attacks!

There is always drama in the Oates family, as I'm sure you are realizing by now; Today was no exception. My niece was watching the kids while James was at work and I was getting my toes done before my ortho apt. My phone rang and it was my niece, Hope was in the back ground screaming bloody murder. She asked if either James or I could come home because Hope had gotten attacked by a dog. I rushed home to find the neighbor girl, sitting outside with Grace and Zach, her head in her hands crying. I ran inside to see how bad it really was...Hope was sitting eating an otter-pop, still crying & trying to catch her breath between sucks. I took one look at her face and we started for the car.

As we got in the car, Kelsey the neighbor girl (whose dog it was, is 15 & really sweet) apologized through lots of tears. I assured her it was not her fault and it was okay. I tried my best not to appear shaken, but there was quite a bit of blood. My niece was freaked out, but did really well under the circumstances. She tried to calm Hope down and left her face alone so I could see the damage as it was. We went to our Dr.'s office which is literally right down the street, we all ran in, but neither Dr. was there, we had to go to the ER in Redlands instead. I called James on the way, he was working in Perris but finished up and then would meet us there. Thankfully there was parking up close and the waiting room was empty. Hope and I got in right away, while my niece stayed with the other kids in the waiting room. My parents came and took the other kids & my niece to lunch while we waited for the Dr. Actually it wasn't too bad of an ER experience considering. Hope was really brave and only cried a little, well that is until they flushed her wounds. This was definitely the worst part. They numbed her face beforehand so it would be a little better, but still she screamed and turned and kicked. Thankfully after one flush James was there and was able to help me hold her down and even still she managed to get loose a few times and we tried talking to her to calm her down.

After they cleaned everything, it really wasn't as bad as we had thought and certainly could have been MUCH worse. She has bruises on her temple where the dogs teeth attempted to go in, but didn't and had it been only a little lower it would have been in her neck. So we are thankful that it is only as bad as it was. She has 5 puncture wounds, 2 of which are very deep. When they flushed them, loose flesh was coming out and I nearly vomited! It was so gross! They didn't do any stitches or souchers because there is such a high rate of infection with dog bites, so they want the wounds to continue to drain. We have to change the dressing on her face twice a day and she also has to take an antibiotic to help ward off any infection.

So, I'm sure you're wondering how it happened...All the kids were outside playing, neighbor kids, the neighbors dog included, my niece was sitting in the driveway watching. The dog (named Bug, is a Corgie, not too big, but fat!) often plays outside the neighbors yard when Kelsey is out playing with the kids and there's never been a problem (once she attacked our dog, but never any of the kids) Some of the kids were riding bikes, others were playing basketball. Hope was running and tripped, the dog was right there and just turned and attacked her growling and all, biting her face. Kelsey screamed, Kendra (my niece) screamed and ran to get Bug off of Hope. The dog instantly ran to the gate of her house and Kendra grabbed Hoper and brought her inside. She called me and in the meantime gave her a Popsicle in an attempt to calm her down. Both Zach and Grace were crying over the fact that Bug was going to have to get killed, not really understanding the whole situation. So, that's it. A generally nice dog, turned and bit my Hoper's sweet face. After the trauma of having her face flushed we asked Hope where she wanted to go eat and she said Panera Bread :), she is my daughter after all. So we met my parents there and had some lunch. Hope did complain a little that it was hard to chew on that side and once we were home she laid low and didn't even eat dinner, but today she is acting much more like herself. She's only needed Tylenol a couple of times to keep her face from hurting.

The neighbors have been very kind and accommodating. The mom works for the county code enforcement and used to work for animal control for 9 years, so she is well aware of the liability and how everything works. The hospital filed a report with animal control and animal control has been out to see the dog and check shot records etc... They want to check and make sure the dog isn't rabid before they euthanize it, so that'll take a few days. If it is positive than Hope will have to have a shot. The dog will be put to sleep soon and hopefully Hope won't be afraid of other dogs in the future (she's been fine with our dog CoCo) They will be paying all her medical expenses and have come to check on her quite a few times, so that has been comforting.

We are truly grateful it wasn't worse and Hope's face looks to be healing nicely. I'll give you an update tomorrow after we see the Dr.