Like most people, I have scars. I have a lot of scars. I have a chicken pox scar on my cheek. I have a burn scar from an oven on my arm. I even have a scar on my forehead where I hit it while playing as a toddler. But my worst scar by far is on my leg and it appeared less than a year ago.
I love my dog a lot but she has caused me a lot of scars in her three short years. Picture a beautiful spring day in April. I thought it would be a lovely day to take Weezy out in the backyard for a quick game of fetch before I left to meet some friends. We went through our routine and she settled down excitedly at the back door to wait for me to put on her collar with a lead attached. Since we don't have a fenced in back yard we have a long wire cable lead that we attach her to so that she can freely wander around the yard without be able to chase down passersby in the street. I attached the collar and opened the door. Weezy eagerly ran outside and grabbed her ball and brought it to me. After a short struggle to get her to release the ball ("drop it" is not quite in her vocabulary yet) I tossed it around a few times and she galloped off full speed to fetch. Being the chunky pooch she is, she tuckered out after about three tosses and plopped down in the yard to bask in the sun and possibly roll around in some poop.
I had some time left so I wandered over to my garden to check on the progress of my blossoming tomatoes and other veggies. Not able to be away from my side for even a second, Weezy immediately jumped up to come investigate why I had disappeared around the corner of the house. We both admired the garden for a while when I realized that I needed to get a move on and go meet my friends. I told Weezy it was time to go inside and she turned to run back to the door.
And that's when it happened.....
I saw everything in slow motion. Weezy took off for the door, ears flapping in the wind. I looked down and realized that her lead was wrapped around my legs. I screamed for her to stop as I tried to disentangle myself. In the hour it took for her to slow motion run away and for me to scream I managed to free my left leg. But she had built up too much momentum and I knew what was going to happen. I was trying to lift my right leg out of the lead when the tension caught and the lead tightened on my leg and slide across my skin. I managed to stay on my feet and Weezy came running back to see why I had screamed.
I limped into the house to survey my leg and try to squelch the burning pain. My leg was bright red with what looked like a rope burn wrapping almost all around my leg. The cord had cut so deep I was worried I might need stitches. I cleaned myself up and poored a bottle of peroxide over my leg and headed out to meet my friends.
This was probably the worse injury I have ever had which makes me feel lucky. I was left limping for weeks and couldn't wear any pants that came down past my calves. My doctor ordered a dopplar exam to make sure the injury hadn't caused any blood clots (thanks for the $500 bill doc).
Eventually the wound healed but I have been left with a nice scar wrapping around my leg as memory. I don't blame Weezy but I make damn sure to stay out of her lead whenever I am outside.
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