Me and Clover's horrible night (update: paw pictures on page 2)

[Sowa]

July 1st I went to see the fireworks. I was thinking of bringing Clover but figured I better not in case she gets scared. I asked Dad to bring her outside the house for a minute to see how she'd react so i'd know and he could put her back if she was scared. I figured she'd be fine, since she's never been afraid of loud noises and previous years she wasn't upset from inside at the fireworks.

After the first firework, she bolted, pulled the leash out of my dads hand and took off. I burst into tears when I found out and began looking. After about an hour of looking we called the police station and someone reported a dog got hit by a car, a lab. So I expected the worst and was so upset I had a panic attack and couldn't breath. We got to the vet (someone dropped her off) and I was told she wasn't hit by a car from what they could see. They did a bunch of tests and blood work. She had to stay over night to be sure she'd be ok. All the tests (expect that night) came back good. They said they couldn't see any sign of her being hit by a car. However her feet were all torn up. All 4 paws are now bandaged. She's on pain meds and antibiotics. She seems to be getting better but she still isn't herself.

I'm a little worried she'll be traumatized forever and won't ever be herself again....I've been spoiling her rotten and taking extra good care of her. I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am she's ok. I couldn't take it if something happened to her. I love her more then anything, and I'm so mad at myself for thinking she'd be ok outside my house. I should have just left her safe inside.

Here is a picture.

[Taz_Zoee]

Oh no, poor Clover!

I'm not a dog expert, by any means, but I think you should just go on with life as usual. Spoiling her rotten is only enforcing the behavior and she could just continue with the "different" way she is acting. Sure, she is traumatized, don't get me wrong. And a little spoiling won't hurt.
But don't baby her anymore (assuming that is what you were doing). Just treat her as you did before. Once she sees you are fine, then she should be fine.

Again, please don't take this the wrong way. AND I am only talking. Who knows what I would do if I were in that situation myself? I might do exactly what you are doing. But I would hope someone would let me know if that was the wrong thing to be doing. And hopefully more experienced dog owners here will say if I am right or wrong. If I am wrong, then I apologize up front.

I do hope she heals up quickly on her pawsies and that she get back to her usual self soon. And I really am sorry the whole thing happened to you and Clover.

[Karen]

Awww, poor Clover and poor you! She must have been so scared! Thank goodness she was found, and we hope her paws heal lickety split!

[Sowa]

I don't think a couple days of being spoiled will hurt her. (she's spoiled on regular days a little too ) She has a lot of trouble walking, barely moves, and won't eat much. I'll do whatever I can to make her comfortable and happy She's so excited when I come home from work. She'll whine and wiggle her body til I get over to see her.

[Karen]

she's spoiled on regular days a little too :

I think that's an understatement! Give her a kiss on top of that head for me!

[chocolatepuppy]

How scary! Get better Clover.

[SWHouston]

Poor Clover and poor you as well...
But, I have to go along with Taz on the spoiling, get Clover back to business as usual asap.
Did I miss something, but was it determined how/why her paws were injured ?

[Freedom]

I agree w/ Cindi, back to normal, no molly coddling!

And I agree w/ SWHouston, how did her paws get so hurt?

Dogs and fireworks, dogs and parades, these thing just do not mix.

I'm so glad she is back home with you.

[cloverfdx]

Poor dog . Dogs and fireworks are a disaster waiting to happen, very lucky you got her back in one piece.

Get well soon poor Clover .

[pomtzu]

So sorry that this happened, but relieved to hear that Clover is okay.

I too can't help but wonder how her paws got injured so badly that they have to be bandaged. Part of the problem of her not walking much can be attributed to the fact that her paws are wrapped up - something that is very foreign to her and of course she doesn't understand. She's probably wondering - "why is this stuff on my feet?"

Hope that she'll be back to her old self very soon.

[kaycountrygal]

I'm sorry to hear that Clover got scared, ran, and injured her feet. I know you must have been very upset ... probably are to some extent. I agree with others who said she probably isn't walking much because of the bandages on her feet. Both of you hang in there!! She'll be alright.

[Sowa]

Here is picture from today. She has pink wraps.


Also when I say she's spoiled I just mean she's getting some canned food mixed in with her food, also she needed help standing up as well as getting extra hugs and kisses. I think it's more so to make me feel better

As for how they got so bad. The vet says it's just from running full speed on the pavement. I really didn't expect this to happen. I thought she'd just go inside if she was frightened. I think it might have a little to with last week when someone sprayed pet correcter next to her and it scared her a lot. She's never been afraid of loud noises at all up to that point. I know you probably think I'm a bad owner to let this happen, trust me I never would have let it happen if I had known she'd be so afraid. I didn't even take her to where they were, she was just outside my front door.

[Alysser]

Fireworks on are the BANE of my existence ever since I got a dog who is terrified of them. Mikey is HORRIFIED. There was one 4th of July where I literally thought he was going to have a heart attack. He is in the kennel for the next two days because we're all going out tonight in hopes that he may not hear them. The kennel is far off from any main road so I am hoping for the best. But he will be safer there because if he ever ran off he'd be killed.

Anyway, I am so sorry this happened to you and Clover! I can imagine you being a wreck, especially after hearing that a lab had been hit by a car, how horrible!! I am so so glad she is okay and safe

Clover you still look cute even with your pawsies all bandaged, pink is your color.

She'll bounce back, they always do.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm glad that she's now home and safe. I'm sure that once her bandages are off that she'll be able to walk around just fine. I hope she heals up quickly.

[Asiel]

Fireworks never bothered any of my dogs or the horses for that matter but my neighbour has to close the blinds and she plays loud music ...the dogs still hear the fireworks a bit and she still has a hard time with them but better than having them run crazy and hurt themselves.
I'm glad everything worked out okay for Clover-----wondered how she could have had such bad sores on her feet--I was thinking she might have stepped on a small fire someone had lit to start the fireworks... I hope she keeps on mending without trouble.