angledge | Shadeaux nearly died last night.

hotpantsgalore called me last night & says, "I'm on my way home from the vet's."

Last night, as usual, Shadeaux was playing in our backyard with several of our neighbor's dogs, including Duke & Lexi. The humans were chatting with each other, when suddenly they heard Duke whining. He & Shadeaux were locked together, & the first impression was that they were fighting. But when folks ran over to separate them, it turned out that somehow Shadeaux's choke chain collar had got wrapped around Duke's lower jaw, & it was throttling her. Every time Duke moved, it tightened the chain, & he was scared & trying to get away.

Everyone was trying to get them loose. Shadeaux passed out. Her tongue was sticking out & was purple. She lost control of her bowels. And still, nobody could get the chain off of Duke's jaw. Duke's owner told me later that he was steeling himself to try to break Duke's lower canines in order to get the chain off. Then B*, our downstairs neighbor, who works at the Houston Zoo, somehow managed to manipulate the loose skin around Duke's throat & mouth in a way that allowed the chain to come free. Shadeaux came loose into

hotpantsgalore's arms, & HPG thought Shadeaux was dead. But B* found her pulse, & so then the race to the vet started. One neighbor called ahead to let the vet know what was coming in, but then another neighbor said - "Where's Lexi?"

In all the fearful commotion, one of the other dogs had been frightened enough to flee the yard. But HPG had no time to help look for her. She got to the vet, who listened to Shadeaux's lungs & heard fluid. He gave her a steroids shot, & gave HPG some antibiotics. Apparently there is a risk of pneumonia. But overall Shadeaux was fine last night, just subdued & lethargic. I will get an update when HPG gets up this morning.

Happily, our local crackheads found Lexi last night & returned her, completely unharmed. In fact, all of the dogs seem to already be moving past this accident.

Why, why, why, why did we let Shadeaux wear a choke chain as her daily collar for so long? I knew it wasn't a good idea - but it looked cute, & HPG & I could never agree on what color collar to get for her. Now I realize that I couldn't care less if HPG goes to Petco today & buys a pink & purple camoflague collar with a Dallas Cowboys tag on it. My dog is never wearing a choke chain again.

I am once again left so deeply thankful for my neighbors. And for my dog being alive.

OK, off to work now. There are FEMA subgrant applications to write.