Worst dog mom ever
I skipped my group run yesterday because I have relatives in town and need to leave a little early today, so I headed out around 9:45 last night to take Riley on the 3.5 mile run around the neighborhood (to be our longest run ever!). It was in the low 50s and windy so I was horribly cold while we did our warm-up walk - I'd forced myself to follow my "always wear shorts if it's above 50 degrees" rule - but I felt great once we started running.
We were cruising along Shoal Creek Blvd. at a decent pace, Riley was having fun ... it was an awesome run. I felt perfect. Riley was trotting alongside me, on the street-side rather than his usual yard-side, looking up at me hoping for a treat (I actually encourage this because it puts him in a good walking position - if he's looking at me, he's not trying to run ahead of me, and I really don't care if he's kind of begging). He was looking at me, I was looking at him ... neither of us saw this his head was headed toward a row of three recycling bins (Friday is trash day in our neighborhood).
It's hard to say exactly what happened since it was so fast, but I think he hit the first bin (which contained glass and made lots of noise), bounced either around or over it and landed most of his body, except for one leg that sort of hung on the side, into the second bin (which thankfully contained paper), and then leapt out of that bin and knocked a bunch of plastic water bottles out of the third bin in his attempt to get away from the noise from the whole thing. I quickly threw the water bottles back in and he calmed down pretty quickly ... but then I realized he wasn't standing on the leg that had hung on the side of the bin.
Oh. crap. We were still over a mile from home, I didn't have my phone, and 10:30 pm is a little late to go knocking on strangers' doors. I stared at him in panic for a moment, while he got bored and sat on the grass. I felt his leg and hip - they felt OK and he didn't mind me touching them - and then he straightened up into a proper sit like he does when he thinks you might be about to give him a treat (he's such a little pig).
I decided if he was thinking about treats he couldn't be in *that* much pain, and to try walking on home. He limped for a few steps, then seemed completely fine for the rest of the time. (An aside: I worry a lot about his hips. When he was a pup, the vet said he had a "splayed stance" that could indicate future hip problems, and he's a very slow runner compared to other dogs. So, yeah, I freak out easily.) He seemed fine this morning too.
Of course the run was over at that point - we went not quite 2 miles. I guess I'll do the 3.5 tomorrow, which means I can go do it on the trail during the day! That will be fun ... but I'm going to be worrying the whole time!
We were cruising along Shoal Creek Blvd. at a decent pace, Riley was having fun ... it was an awesome run. I felt perfect. Riley was trotting alongside me, on the street-side rather than his usual yard-side, looking up at me hoping for a treat (I actually encourage this because it puts him in a good walking position - if he's looking at me, he's not trying to run ahead of me, and I really don't care if he's kind of begging). He was looking at me, I was looking at him ... neither of us saw this his head was headed toward a row of three recycling bins (Friday is trash day in our neighborhood).
It's hard to say exactly what happened since it was so fast, but I think he hit the first bin (which contained glass and made lots of noise), bounced either around or over it and landed most of his body, except for one leg that sort of hung on the side, into the second bin (which thankfully contained paper), and then leapt out of that bin and knocked a bunch of plastic water bottles out of the third bin in his attempt to get away from the noise from the whole thing. I quickly threw the water bottles back in and he calmed down pretty quickly ... but then I realized he wasn't standing on the leg that had hung on the side of the bin.
Oh. crap. We were still over a mile from home, I didn't have my phone, and 10:30 pm is a little late to go knocking on strangers' doors. I stared at him in panic for a moment, while he got bored and sat on the grass. I felt his leg and hip - they felt OK and he didn't mind me touching them - and then he straightened up into a proper sit like he does when he thinks you might be about to give him a treat (he's such a little pig).
I decided if he was thinking about treats he couldn't be in *that* much pain, and to try walking on home. He limped for a few steps, then seemed completely fine for the rest of the time. (An aside: I worry a lot about his hips. When he was a pup, the vet said he had a "splayed stance" that could indicate future hip problems, and he's a very slow runner compared to other dogs. So, yeah, I freak out easily.) He seemed fine this morning too.
Of course the run was over at that point - we went not quite 2 miles. I guess I'll do the 3.5 tomorrow, which means I can go do it on the trail during the day! That will be fun ... but I'm going to be worrying the whole time!