Pet crate... OF DOOM!!!!
Here's the promised scary pet thing...
Last weekend also saw a minor doggy-mergency at home. Anastasia's got two little (and I DO mean little) dogs, Sherlock and Ruby. They're pretty good most of the time, but Ruby's got a bit of an attitude problem sometimes. She occasionally makes her displeasure known by leaving "presents" on the floor. Because of this, she usually hangs out in her doggy crate while nobody's home. Most of the time, she's cool with it.
Since my uncles were staying with us that weekend, A put Ruby's crate in our bedroom instead of the living room. Ruby apparently didn't like this, and she tried to chew through the cage door. The door is made of a wire mesh, with the wires maybe an inch apart... pretty standard for a pet crate, I think. She didn't cause any damage or cut herself or anything, but she DID manage to get her lower jaw stuck in the door!
Her lower canine teeth (yeah, I know, she's a dog, so they're ALL "canine" teeth... I mean the two big relatively-pointy teeth) were juuuust a bit wider than the hole in the door, but somehow she managed to get them through. Then, she couldn't get them back out. I have NO idea how long she sat there with her jaw in the door, mouth wide open. Judging from the puddle of drool under her? Probably quite a while. Poor doggy!
For the most part, she was pretty calm. I'm guessing that she had already freaked out a lot and had given up. Every once in a while though, as I was trying to free her, she'd let out the most horrible, heart-breaking, ear-splitting shrieks. Fortunately, Anastasia wasn't there, or she probably would've had a nervous breakdown.
Extracting her from her predicament was, well, kinda scary. I wasn't having any luck just pushing her jaw back, because I was really afraid of accidentally chipping her tooth or, worse, breaking her jaw. I couldn't open the door enough to get my hand in there and turn her head. And every once in a while, her lip would get stuck between her tooth and the cage, eliciting one of the above-mentioned shrieks.
Eventually, I wound up disassembling the crate (the top half comes off pretty easily) so I'd have more room to work. Of course, as soon as crate was opened and the door was out of its hinges, Ruby started squirming, and I got REALLY scared that she might twist funny and really hurt her jaw. Fortunately, once I got her calmed down a bit, I was able to maneuver the door a bit so that her teeth were at a better angle, and then it just took a little push and *pop*... free doggy!
Naturally, my heart was racing, and she was shaking a bit. Ten minutes later, she was running around wrestling with Sherlock like nothing had happened. Five minutes after that, she was chomping on some food. WHEW!
Now, a week later... no signs of anything bad. I'm a little nervous that she's going to do it again, but she doesn't seem afraid of the crate or anything, so that's good.
Last weekend also saw a minor doggy-mergency at home. Anastasia's got two little (and I DO mean little) dogs, Sherlock and Ruby. They're pretty good most of the time, but Ruby's got a bit of an attitude problem sometimes. She occasionally makes her displeasure known by leaving "presents" on the floor. Because of this, she usually hangs out in her doggy crate while nobody's home. Most of the time, she's cool with it.
Since my uncles were staying with us that weekend, A put Ruby's crate in our bedroom instead of the living room. Ruby apparently didn't like this, and she tried to chew through the cage door. The door is made of a wire mesh, with the wires maybe an inch apart... pretty standard for a pet crate, I think. She didn't cause any damage or cut herself or anything, but she DID manage to get her lower jaw stuck in the door!
Her lower canine teeth (yeah, I know, she's a dog, so they're ALL "canine" teeth... I mean the two big relatively-pointy teeth) were juuuust a bit wider than the hole in the door, but somehow she managed to get them through. Then, she couldn't get them back out. I have NO idea how long she sat there with her jaw in the door, mouth wide open. Judging from the puddle of drool under her? Probably quite a while. Poor doggy!
For the most part, she was pretty calm. I'm guessing that she had already freaked out a lot and had given up. Every once in a while though, as I was trying to free her, she'd let out the most horrible, heart-breaking, ear-splitting shrieks. Fortunately, Anastasia wasn't there, or she probably would've had a nervous breakdown.
Extracting her from her predicament was, well, kinda scary. I wasn't having any luck just pushing her jaw back, because I was really afraid of accidentally chipping her tooth or, worse, breaking her jaw. I couldn't open the door enough to get my hand in there and turn her head. And every once in a while, her lip would get stuck between her tooth and the cage, eliciting one of the above-mentioned shrieks.
Eventually, I wound up disassembling the crate (the top half comes off pretty easily) so I'd have more room to work. Of course, as soon as crate was opened and the door was out of its hinges, Ruby started squirming, and I got REALLY scared that she might twist funny and really hurt her jaw. Fortunately, once I got her calmed down a bit, I was able to maneuver the door a bit so that her teeth were at a better angle, and then it just took a little push and *pop*... free doggy!
Naturally, my heart was racing, and she was shaking a bit. Ten minutes later, she was running around wrestling with Sherlock like nothing had happened. Five minutes after that, she was chomping on some food. WHEW!
Now, a week later... no signs of anything bad. I'm a little nervous that she's going to do it again, but she doesn't seem afraid of the crate or anything, so that's good.