Bails got a nick today at the dog park :(

[chelle]

This really isn't about the dog park, per se. Bailey was playing with a couple of tough playing terriers, small ones, just normal dog play, and he was injured.

The pics don't show it well. It is more obvious in person. It is just so close to his eyeball, that it freaked me out.

I've been a proponent of the dog park on this forum, and I still am in the right circumstances, but the two dogs he was playing with were playing too hard and I should've left. (Both smaller terriers) I'm eating some crow now.

It's just below his left eye:





At first, it swelled a bit, but that seems to have gone back down now.

But if you can see the "damage," would you say that means one of those terriers actually got a tooth in his head there???

He never reacted, never whined, didn't seem the least bothered by any of it. I don't know which of the two terriers did this, but it had to be one of them. I didn't notice it happening at the time. I only noticed later, because there was a tiny bit of blood.

Bailey's best friend is a hard playing little Boston Terrier and she plays crazy hard for what a little girl she is. It could've been her doing this, so I don't want to make this thread about the dog park, please.

I should've left, though -- even if they "appeared" to be having fun... or not? Would you be upset by such a small injury?

Is there anything medically I should do for this?

[onyx'girl]

my dogs nik each other often when playing. Just keep an eye on it...white shows more of course, so you should be able to see swelling/irritation easier. That is just a tag, nothing to be worried about as far as aggression. That said, I'm still not a believe in dog park dynamics.

I should just visit some and bring my camera, not my dogs.

[Bismarck]

i would go get some betadyne, mix with some water, and dab it on.
no need to get an infection

[shaner]

No, I wouldn't be upset or concerned with such a small injury. Keep an eye on it to make sure it heals, other than that, no reason to do anything if it doesn't appear to bother the dog.

When dogs play hard, sometimes an injury can happen. Same with kids, when rough housing, injuries can happen. If my dog was having fun but playing hard, I would have no problem with that. As long as it's not aggressive play, I don't care how hard she plays.

[Falkosmom]

I would not be upset by that injury, unless it starts swelling or looks like it is becoming infected. Sometimes injuries happen during play, sometimes even during training or running off the beaten trail. You need to stay on top of things but you can't stop every injury from happening.

[Lucy Dog]

Lucy's had much worse playing with other dogs before. It happens when they play rough. It's bound to happen when they play like that and I'm assuming there was no aggression and this was just an accident.

Clean it with soap and water and put some neosporin on there until it heals. It will be back to normal in no time.

[Rott-n-GSDs]

It just looks like a tooth nicked him during play... an "aggressive" bite would've done more damage. I wouldn't worry.