Bark worse than Bite in Packrat

My bark is now officially worse than my bite. I started treatment for rabies yesterday and asked S to please be sure that I get a shiny new tag to wear around my neck that shows I’ve been vaccinated.

My dog bit me. She was an older dog who formerly lived in the fenced yard with the two-year-olds there now; she seemed to need a break from them, so I took her out of the fenced yard and let her run free in the yard, bringing her in at night to sleep in the porch-we’re-turning-into-a-room. She then became foreign to them. I usually keep the door blocked but when I had to run in for something, she decided to run out in the yard where they all jumped her.

I got her back in, bathed her, checked her over (and later her “deposits”), and that night she got around okay. The next day she was stiff and sore, and when I tried to move her to a more comfortable position I must have hit a tender spot; she whirled around and bit me.

She later died from her wounds. She shouldn’t have gone that way and deserved better. As much as I hurt from one small puncture in one area, I know she had 50 times more pain. I hate that she’s gone, but she’s not hurting now, and I would have been caring for her one-handed.

Because she had never been vaccinated and I couldn’t say with certainty that she had never been exposed to rabies the state health department
told my doctor that vaccination was best, to be safe rather than sorry. I’ve been telling people it’s because I’ve been running around loose in the yard and trying to bite people.

The way I see it, now that I’ll have my vaccinations, I should get a few free bites.