Phoenix Blunder. Sisters on Saturday

I mentioned yesterday about how we've been going to Thousand Acres a lot because it's been so sunny and that park is just awesome. We usually do a 3-5 mile trek when we go. About half way into it there's a trail that comes up that leads to a ramp with a "bird blind". The girls love racing up and down the ramp.

Here's Zoe running down the ramp to me. Phoenix was off to the side of it eating grass.

Phee heard me call Zoe and raced over because she always likes to beat Zoe back to me and I've got treats!

She was going so fast that she ended up sliding and went down on her right front wrist. She jumped right back up and continued running around so I had no idea she was actually hurt and because she seemed fine, I completely forgot about this. I thought these photos would make a funny sequence because of the surprised look on Zoe's face.

Later on into our walk we moved into the forest trails. Phoenix likes to go off the trails through here and check out things in the brush along the trail. I try to keep her from doing this because there are a lot of thorny bushes and blackberry bushes. She went into the bushes and I called her out and she was hopping on three legs with her right front leg in the air. Kind of like she had been poked by something. I checked her leg and paw out and couldn't find anything. I also didn't remember her falling on it so I didn't think about it. After I checked her out and told her she was fine she went back to walking on it like normal.

When we got home that morning every once in a while she'd hop around not on that leg and she kept trying to lick the back of it like she had been poked by something. I thought maybe she got stung by a bee. I still couldn't find any thorns or anything wrong with the leg. There was no swelling or heat at all. Other than her occasionally acting funny she seemed fine and then after a long nap she was totally back to normal.

The next morning we woke up and she wasn't limping and acting completely fine, so I assumed she was poked. We went back out to the park. The girls and I spent a few hours out there. They ran around and did their thing. We even saw Mr. N and Sage and stopped to chat with their moms. Phoenix never showed any signs of lameness or pain. She seemed fine.

When we got home, she didn't want to hop out of the car. When she finally did she didn't want to put any weight on the leg. So now I was sure something had happened but I still couldn't figure it out. I decided I would rest her and see how it goes because she is extremely fearful of the vet and I didn't want to stress her out if I don't have to. So I let her nap while I edited photos. Then I got to the sequence above and there it is. She must of hurt her leg when she slipped on the ramp. I think she might have also been poked in the forest. Two totally random events but they make sense.

So I've chosen to rest her versus a traumatizing vet visit. I think she probably bruised that leg and it's sore. She still has no swelling or heat in the leg and after a few hours of sleep she was back to walking on it like normal. We are going to take a few days off from the park and I've been only taking her on short leashed potty walks and carrying her up and down the stairs so that she doesn't have any extra pressure on it. I feel so bad that I missed that she was actually injured and then made her run on it the next day. I'm so used to Zoe being a total drama queen about things that I didn't really think about it too much when Phoenix was acting fine.

I'm hoping that after a few days rest she will be okay and if not we will be making an appointment with our vet. So far she seems completely back to normal but I'm keeping a very close eye on her and not letting her do much.

I really wish our dogs could tell us when something was wrong!