Dog trouble!

I have this wonderful yellow lab mix named Sherman. He's awesome! He loves everyone and can always be counted on to greet you enthusiastically with wagging tail. However...he has been the cause of a few headaches lately. Last week we went hiking and took the dog along. He spotted a pond and decided to go swimming. The problem was that this just wasn't a pond, mind you. It was more of a swamp. He came out literally covered with black mud and scum. When he got out, he naturally shook...which of course showered all of us with black scum droplets! It was even on my glasses! Jamie took him to a cleaner section of the pond and made him swim again. He looked better...but still was a mess. He shook again which meant a shower of diluted scum droplets! There was an outdoor spigot which helped some. At home came the task of bathing him. What I don't get is why he loves swimming, but resists bathing like the plague! After bathing him, came the job of cleaning the bathroom, which was completely trashed at that point. Because he is quite a large dog, we always end up using atleast 3 towels to dry him and to sop up the water on the floor. These are naturaly covered with hair...which means laundry!

All was well for several days. On Thursday I was with him in the yard and he was tied to his line...which he ended up wrapping around my left leg. Someone came down the street walking another dog and Sherman decided to run and greet him enthusiastically. I was whipped to the ground and had a nasty rope burn behind my leg. I washed it out and hobbled around for a few days. On Monday night, I noticed it looking puffy and red and it was oozing something yellow. I called the doctor the next day to have someone look at it. Sure enough, it is infected! So I am bandaged now and on antibiotics. I also needed a tetnus shot since I hadn't had one in over 12 years. So all was well once again. I am on my way to recovery. What else could possibly go wrong?

Our friend, Mike decided to have a bon fire at his house last night and wondered if we would like to come out. So off we went...along with the dog. Other than pesky mosquitoes, we were having a good time. Sherman had freedom to run and play since it was out in the country. The kids spent time chasing down and catching fire flies. And the dog...had found something to roll in! At least it wasn't something dead...but was pretty bad-wood chuck poop. So I repeated the whole bathing fiasco from last week! I was up until 12:30 am since it wasn't just a matter of bathing him. All of us smelled smokey and had bug spray on. So we all needed showers before bed.

Anyway, do I love my dog? Yes. He's a great companion (except for when he stinks). He is all clean and soft now and sleeping peacefully on his blanket!