Poor Denali

A couple weeks ago, we took Denali back to the new groomer we recently discovered and really like. She came back smelling fresh and looking snazzy...

Apparently the shampoo scent was too fresh and foreign smelling for Kiwi though and she didn't recognize Denali as her daily playmate.   There had been some growling and barking from Kiwi after previous grooming visits, so it was our intention to only let them have a very brief supervised sniff of each other before separating them for a few days, while Denali got back to smelling more like herself.   That very brief interaction with two of us supervising was too much though.   Kiwi ended up attacking Denali instantly and thank goodness Ellie and I were both right there to stop things quickly, but even still we ended up having to take Denali to the veterinary ER.    All this while Glen and Spencer were out of town. 

The left picture is what it looked like before we took her in.   After examining her more thoroughly, the vet ended up having to shave the wound and give her three stitches.  Additionally, they found two more punctures where other teeth had entered.  Thankfully those did not need stitching.  

She cried in pain quite a bit the first couple days (even with pain meds) and also wore a cone and/or a onesie for the next two weeks, to keep her from bothering the stitches.  She has since gotten her stitches removed and has recovered quite well.

This all came in the middle of a crazy few weeks at our house and was just "one more thing" to keep our stress levels high.  Kiwi is 98% sweet as can be, but that 2% is terrifying and we are trying to figure out a new way going forward.  

For now we are just keeping them completely separated in different parts of the house while we figure things out.  

Here's to happier dog days ahead...