Ever have one of those days when nothing goes as planned? I mean N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Then when something does happen, it is something you never in a million years envisioned happenning? Well, that’s how our Saturday went. We had big yard plans, the hubby and I.  We got through our morning of basketball games and were chompin’ at the bit to get outside and enjoy the day and get stuff done!  The boys had friends come over and the sister pestered them as best she could.  The first sign of the downward spiral of our day was the lawnmower decided not to start which sent J. on a small journey to Sears and back.  He left frustrated and returned the same. When he got home, I took off to a neighbor’s house to deliver some cookies.  While I was there J. called. Well, I decided not to answer mainly b/c I was talking to the son of these folks who had bit hit by a van on the highway while cycling back in September and this was his second day home!!! Next thing I know, J. is pulling into their driveway yelling out the window “We’ve got an emergency at home with Dutch!” I abruptly ended the conversation apologizing profusely and jumped into the truck and got the rundown of what happened.  The kids got out the fishing poles and one of the poles had some catfish bait on it.  Well, Dutch is notorious for eating catfish bait(among other gross and disgusting things that I shall not mention here.) He grabbed the bait and in the process got the fish hook hooked into his tongue.  J. had tried to get it out but couldn’t. That’s when he called me and that’s when I didn’t answer. So that’s when he can to retrieve me. When we got back home, all the little boys and girl were standing around Dutch looking at him and he was sitting there very calmly looking back at them wagging his tail. I pried open his mouth and looked but didn’t see a hook anywhere.  Not good. We combed the ground looking for the hook.  No hook.  Checked his mouth again.  No hook.  We thought surely he didn’t swallow it. I called the local vet to get some advice on what to do next.  They were closed and reffered us to the Emergency Animal Clinic in the next town over.  So. We decided the best thing to do would be to get an xray to determine if he did in fact swallow it or did he projectile vomit it out.  We get the kids squared away with friends and off we go. They take Dutch back for the xray and bring us in to see the results….

Yep. There it is. Wonderful.  So we then proceed to talk to the ER Vet about our options: surgery to remove it, or do nothing and risk the dog dying from internal bleeding due to the hook puncturing his stomach or intestines. We were just about to give her (the vet) the go ahead for surgery when she  mentioned another option. Inducing vomiting in hopes it would bring the hook back out the way it went in. Yes, there was a risk of the hook damaging something, but we were already staring that risk in the face.  So, we opted to try that first.  We stepped out and let them get busy.  Within 5 minutes, the vet opens the waiting room door and walks out with a big grin on her face!  Success!!  J. walks over and grabs the hook from her hand:

It still had the small amount of fishing line  and the plastic lure attached to it.   We decided to keep it as a souvenier and take it home to show the kids.  After a few minutes of holding that nasty hook, J. said something to the effect of, “I just realized I’m holding something that has been inside my dog’s stomach…”  and with that, I paid the bill and we headed home.  That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it….