gonzai | Fighting Dogs & Alzheimer's (Reply)

The last 12-15 hours have been pretty rough at my house. We were getting ready for bed last night when Mom let Roxie out of the bedroom while CJ was still downstairs, which is a huge no-no. Keeping the two dogs apart is priority. CJ attacked Roxie, driving her into the bedroom and into a corner behind the bed. Mom went in after them. The only way for me to get anywhere near either dog was to climb over the bed. So while lying on my stomach, I grabbed Roxie’s collar with one hand and tried to get CJ to let go of Roxie with the other. This wasn’t good for back or arms. Finally I got them apart and Mom tossed CJ out of the house. Meanwhile, Roxie bit me instead of CJ. (She also peed on me but that I'll get over.) She sliced up the soft part of my wrist and one tooth got into my wrist around the hamate bone. I’m not sure if she injured a nerve, cracked the hamate or just really bruised it, but my hand & wrist are killing me. By the time my injury and nerves finally got to a point where I might get to sleep, a windstorm kicked up, and CJ started in with her crying fits. I think I might have gotten 2 hours sleep, just enough for the back and hand to stiffen up and really hurt.

This morning, Mom wants CJ gone. As in put down. Needless to say, I object. And Mom has been getting worse mentally and her moods are swinging all over, so I’m afraid she’ll do something to CJ if they’re left alone together. So now I’m at work, trying to type despite a lot of pain, with my dog in the back seat of the car and probably rather chilled out there, but the alternative is to risk Mom either dumping her on the road or trying to get someone to put her down. (Legally, only the owner can do that but only our personal vet knows for a fact that CJ isn’t Mom’s dog.) I don’t know what I’m going to do moving forward, CJ has so many issues it would be near impossible to rehome her, and if I either give her up or let my mother put her down, I’d never be able to adopt an animal again. (The rescues are crazy strict about that.) It’s also as much Mom’s fault as CJ’s, she knows better than to let the dogs out together but she did it anyway. And there’s been a lot of close calls lately from her doing that. Mom is as much of a problem as the dogs as she can’t tell what room she’s in or what day it is any more. And I’m exhausted, stressed out, physically hurting and very likely to be laid off soon.