Sophie and Wayne took their usual evening walk on Monday. She walked normally until she reached our doorstep, but came into the house with her right rear leg held high, panting, and madly licking at her paw.
I felt her paw, thinking she’d stepped on a goathead—our most wicked, thorny seed that comes with three hard and sharp horns—but found nothing.
Whatever she encountered, the pain was terrific. She couldn’t hold still. Panting, she’d thump down, lick, move, and thump down again. From floor to rug and back to floor. We were helpless to know what to do.
My guess is that Sophie had stepped on a spider. There’s a water barrel by the back door with webs which I occasionally sweep away. Since all spiders have some sort of venom, it makes sense that Sophie had stepped on one hiding in the door mat, and it had bitten her on the tender skin between her toes.
Eventually, Sophie could lie still and rest. We all went to bed.
Dog Self-Healing
At 3:00 a.m., Sophie wanted to go out. Unlike Wayne, I don’t accompany her with a flashlight. I waited at the door, then we went back to bed. (I think she was eating grass.)
In the morning she wouldn’t touch her breakfast, though she came and looked longingly at it. Wayne went off to coffee. While he was gone, Sophie asked to go outside again.
When she barked to be let indoors, I noticed a mess of grasses and stomach fluids where she spit up on the patio. I thought, how considerate. Usually she spits up on one of the indoor rugs.
By the time Wayne came back from coffee, she had cleaned up her breakfast. Hurray!
The Mystery—Solved?
In the evening, we were all three sitting on the sofa. A black spider came dashing across the rug straight at us. I usually treat spiders in the house with a live and let live attitude—at least, when they’re not charging at me. This time, with no other weapons at hand, I dropped my cell phone on it.
So did Sophie bring this particular spider inside?
Was that spider injured by being stepped on, and had it been hiding all day?
What do you think?
(BTW, she’s still eating grass.)
Kate Harrington 