After a regularly scheduled day off on Wednesday, The Pony returned to work Thursday. He was apprehensive and sore. Of course I worried all day. I was especially thinking of him around 12:20, the time when his dog bite occurred on Tuesday. Then my phone buzzed with a text. The Pony sent me a picture of the scene of the attack.
This is where The Pony was walking along, having just delivered mail to the house on the right. He was headed up to the corner, where he turns to put the mail in the box on the front porch of the dog house. No car was parked there at the back porch on Tuesday. One or maybe both of the elderly people was on that back porch. The 110 lb Cane Corso was lying behind the trash cans. The Pony did not see the dog until it ran out in front of him. The Pony couldn't get the dog spray out of his satchel in time.
I mistyped the original account of the incident. The Pony said the residents of that house were not at home. Just the elderlies, who he thinks are the parents of one of the couple, and are visiting for two weeks from Florida with their dog. It was the elderly man who stayed with The Pony while the elderly woman brought out the hydrogen peroxide, ointment, and bandaid.
This picture gives me chills. WHAT IF a child was skipping along that sidewalk??? I shudder to think what the dog might have done to a child. A visiting dog should not have been off leash this close to a public sidewalk. I let my dogs run free, but they are on 20 acres. Not a few feet from a public pathway.
Anyhoo... can't go back in time and un-bite The Pony. The puncture wound looks to be healing, though oozing fluid. Here's a picture:
That's from Thursday morning, about 40 hours after the bite. The skin is wrinkly from the compression bandage overnight. Looks like the swelling has gone down.
The upper arm is showing more color in the bruise.
This one is from Wednesday afternoon, about 24 hours after the incident. I still stand by my theory that this is also a bite, not a paw scrape. It's not like this dog was a heavyweight boxing champ. That's a lot of bruising for a paw.
They don't look too bad for the aftermath of a canine attack. The Pony was a lucky dog.
We never really take in some of the perils of delivering the mail. I am sure glad the Pony is ok! It's tough as a mama to have a kiddo in a job with hazards (vs say an office job - paper cuts are well managed!)
ReplyDeleteMy other son Genius has an office job, programming a driverless car. He moved to Pittsburgh to work in that division of "OOOOBER," which has since sold off that department to a rival, keeping the unit intact.
DeleteOn Genius's first day of work in Pittsburgh, a city bus fell into a giant sinkhole. Thankfully he had driven that day. He found out when he walked into the building and all the employees were chattering about it. Of course I was in a panic!
These days he drives sometimes, walks sometimes, and yes, has taken the bus!
LOL a bus in a sinkhole?! Now that is something. I walk to work and even I have to be sure I don't get into a traffic accident as a pedestrian.
DeleteTo me, the thought of that bus in a sinkhole was horrifying! Genius has called me while walking home from work, with the wind whistling by his phone, as he crossed one of the Pittsburgh bridges. Of course that worried me that he wasn't paying attention while walking!
DeleteIt still looks very painful. I think that for something like this, Pony should have at least been given days off without having to use his sick days.
ReplyDeleteI think when The Pony broke his ankle at work, he had to use his leave for the first three days. Then his Continuation of Pay started, at 60 percent of his salary. Also the workers comp for the medical expenses.
DeleteThe upper arm does look like another bite to me. Did the dog let go after the first bite and bite again? If not, then those shallower holes would be claw marks.
ReplyDeleteThe Pony doesn't remember exactly, since it happened so fast. He thinks the dog was trying to get a good bite, but couldn't, with The Pony moving, trying to put the satchel between him and the dog, and grab his dog spray. He sent me a picture today of blood on his satchel. That upper wound seems to be very bruised for just a paw, when the forearm puncture area is not nearly as bruised, though obviously bitten.
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