Moles and switchblades

Warning: This post is going to be a bit of a rambler.. I can feel it.

You may not be aware if this but there is a long standing battle between moles with switchblades and greyhounds.  The evidence of this is that greys will get cut in what looks to be the safest of environments.

Enter Ricky Bobby.  Thursday morning was Ricky B's turn for the ball field and he was ready to go.  We got there in good time.  The temperature was still in the 70's  and Ricky was ready for some ball pursuit.  He was in fine form.  Chasing down that ball returning it to me bopping around and playing and he was fine I tell you.. just fine.  I leashed him up.. looked down and WHAT.. he was bleeding from 2 paws front and back.  Those darn moles and struck again.  So we went on to the truck.  His front was bleeding more than the back.  Of course I neglected to throw the first aid kit in the truck that morning.  I used my shirt to limit the bleeding and drove him home.   Your mind goes funny places in times like this.  Watching lots of NCIS and CSI got me thinking about how I would explain all the traces of blood that were going to remain on my truck seat forever.  After inspecting and cleaning the cut I decided it was vet time.  The front paw was cut pretty deeply and I thought it would take forever to heal with no stitches.   Then I discovered I was out of vet wrap... grrr.  So I wrapped him in gauze and booked an appointment with the vet for that morning.

Of course when we arrived he had managed to remove the gauze.  Our (awesome) vet kept him for the morning and decided to put stitches into both the front and back.  When I brought him in he was happy and curious and seemed oblivious to the fact that he was hurt.  After picking him up he looked like a geriatric invalid who couldn't possibly put weight on a paw if it has vet-wrap on it.   It was then my vet told me of the ongoing battle between moles with switchblades and greyhounds.  Now when she said that she must have thought I was nuts.  I my mind raced,  I had a horrified look and I instinctively reached for my pocket.  Ok.. here is what was going through my mind:  The weekend before I had attended a knife defense seminar taught by military and martial arts specialist Dan Smith.  My concern was if my pocket knife had some how fallen out and Ricky had cut himself on it.  (It had not).  To an outside observer however, I'm sure it looked like I was going to go hunt me some moles.
So Ricky is home and limping around, but mobile.  He needed a 2:30 am potty break and bandage changing.  The socks have been put over the vet wrap as an additional licking deterrent.  I know I'm supposed to use baby socks, but I have no kids so baby socks have never been high on the agenda.  If he is able to open that kong, I will have to go to a muzzle with stool-guard solution.   If all goes well he will get his stitches out on the 15th.  Oh.. and I drove back to the park to find the "moles".  Seems that there is one gate that Ricky had bounced his ball up against in vigorous play.  The chain link fence was turned in at the bottom and some nasty wires were exposed at the grass line. I'm going back with a pair of pliers.