Happy 4th Birthday Riley!

In the spirit of blogging about our first baby I could not dare leave out Ron and I's first fur-child, our beloved dog, Riley. I adopted Riley from a military family in November of 2005 when he was six months old. He instantly won my heart and the time I have had him has just flown by. Last Wednesday, Ron and I helped Riley celebrate his fourth birthday with a trip to the local PetSmart for some excitement and a new treat/toy. He had a wonderful birthday and we thought we might as well do up his last birthday before the new baby arrives as best we could, because we all know how chaotic life with a new baby will be.
Last Thursday, I start noticing that Riley was not acting like his normal high spirited, happy self. He was hiding under our bed all day, not eating and when we took him on walks I pretty much had to pull him along. I noticed he was also whimpering and seemed to be in pain. Not being able to find any physical signs of a broken bone or anything wrong I thought I'd keep an eye out for the next couple of days for any changes and not rush to the vet right away. Saturday morning the UPS guy rang our doorbell and Riley, the great guard dog that he is went balistic barking. Almost instantly, Riley triggered what had been bothering him the past couple of days and fell back like he was having a seizure. He was screaming in pain, his body was shaking and he went stiff. I went to comfort him and protecting himself, he bit down HARD on both of my thumbs and would not let go! (This is completely out of character for my fur-baby, he would never hurt anything or anyone!) I got my left hand loose and used it to pop him to get my right hand out of his mouth. Talk about scary. I immediately got on the phone with a local friend to ask about area vets. I have not found one yet because of the move. I called around and none of the local businesses were open. So back we went to the local Banfield animal hospital in PetSmart. This visit was much different than the one a couple of days earlier. Being in my pregnant emotional state I was a wreck. I was balling crying worried about my little one and shocked about him biting me! We met with the vet, took x-rays of his spine and neck and go figure, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with my little one. After an injection of pain-killers, a pain killer perscription a high vet bill and peace of mind that nothing was broken we walked away from PetSmart none the wiser. The vet and I believe Riley must have just pulled a muscle or he might have a pinched nerve, so we're still watching him closely and taking it easy. This episode with Riley has truely been indicative of how Ron and I will be as parents. Ron wants to keep Riley in his kennel all day so he can rest and not risk hurting himself again and I want to get him out to hang out with me and keep me company. Ron will definitely be the disciplinarian in our relationship and I'm going to be the feel sorry-for-you pushover. Riley is still hiding under the bed and only coming out to use the bathroom and still acts like he's in pain. Hopefully in a few days he'll start to feel like his old rambunctious self again. I'll keep you posted but for now say a little prayer for our fur-child that everything will be ok!