Top Dog

I guess there's a reason female dogs are called bitches. I guess there's a reason certain females in our society are referred to the same way. Teeth showing, throat growling, jaw snapping alpha biotches. Don't get in their way. They give off a vibe that lets you know that you wouldn't want to. It's an attitude. A confidence that they possess that makes the more submissive types dislike them a bit.

I wasn't sure that I had an alpha biotch. In fact, I like to think that I'm the alpha biotch around here. But after a week of vacationing and the girls staying with a friend who has two female greyhounds herself, I learned the hard way that I have an alpha biotch wana-be.

Leaving my girls, no matter who it's with, is always difficult for me. Seka usually cries, even when she's with other dogs. I usually cry when I leave them, no matter who it's with. They never stay in doggy jail (the kennel) and always stay with someone that loves them as much as I do. I guess you could say Seka and I both suffer from separation anxiety. Roxy on the other hand loves the new adventure.

All reports from the week of the greyhound sleepover were good while we were at the beach. They ran in the back yard, chewed on their kongs, learned how tasty Redi-Whip is and had a wonderful time. All was great, except for the last 15 minutes when I'm guessing Seka wanted one more chew on a bone and Charlie (the resident alpha biotch) had had enough of this wana-be at her house, chewing on her stuff, laying on her bed, and pooping in her yard. As Kev and I were on our way to pick them up, Charlie and Seka were playing Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in the backyard. While Seka got Charlie in the face, the GBD ended up on the losing end (indicating she's really an alpha biotch wana-be) with a torn ear and what appeared to be a small gash in her neck.

After retrieving a bloody welcome from my first born, I spent most of the evening attempting to stop the bleeding on the ear. It was a pretty nasty rip, but as with most greyhound injuries, the blood is usually worse than the actual bite. Her neck stopped bleeding quickly so I didn't think much about it, but I did notice there was an air pocket forming. So every two hours last night, throughout the night, I put a warm compress on it to help avoid causing breathing problems or a pulmonary embolism (PE).

So off to the vet we go this morning. I wasn't prepared to leave her today. I thought they'd clean her up, maybe put a stitch in her neck and then we'd go home, but I was wrong and I'm home with Roxy and I are sitting on the sofa lonely for our GBD. She's getting a stitch or two in the ear (which I'm not sure how that's going to work, but I'm not a vet no matter how much I read on the Internet) and, the pièce de résistance, a drain in her neck. Lovely. She will stay at the vet until Monday or Tuesday and hopefully will do all of her "draining" there and then come home with some humiliating, but cute bandages.

I guess you have to learn at some point that we can't all be the alpha biotch. I guess some of us have to learn the hard way and sometimes it costs more than just our pride.