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Dog Story to entertain!

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Corman Home Sales & Property Management RM422264

We have a 2 year old Mastiff named Hogan.  He is big and weighs about 135-140 pounds.  dog on sofa

Last summer my 23 year old son was playing with Hogan out in the back yard.  He (Son - BJ) was hitting a glow in the dark golf ball up into the field behind us (it was dark) - Hogan would run up and get it and bring it back.  It was quite comical looking as Hogan would carry the golf ball, which was glowing, in his mouth.  All you could see was this glowing ball floating up and down in the air until he got closer.  Well, you can probably guess what happened - after the third trip, just as I was going to tell my son he better stop since the ball was so small in Hogan's mouth.......Hogan was running back to the house when all of a sudden the ball disappeared!  We looked all around that night and the next morning but it was not to be found.  So we figured Hogan must have swallowed it.

I called the vet to ask advice and see what symptoms we should be looking for in case it was causing a problem with his insides - blockage or whatever.  To make a long story short, the vet x-rayed Hogan but couldn't quite tell if the ball was in there or not.  Hogan didn't seem any worse for the wear after several days so the vet said to let it go and see if it "passes" out the other end.  We never saw anything that looked like an intact golf ball in his droppings (that was fun looking, I can tell you!) so over time we figured that the golf ball must have broken up and passed through his system in small pieces.  That was last July.  Hogan has been his typical self all along - crazy and fun loving.

Well, this past week-end (six months later!) Hogan was not feeling well - he was friendly enough, but not eating well - had terrible bad breath and was passing gas that was far worse then the "typical dog gas" and had diarrea.  Forgetting all about last summer, we just did what we could to make him comfortable and gave him lots of love.  Sunday we could no longer take the odor of his breath and the "other" and my husband gave him a Rolaids thinking it might help to settle his insides.  Well, about 4:00 in the morning we awoke hearing that wonderful sound dogs make when they are attempting to throw up - those of you with pets know what sound I'm referring to - only this was really loud.  After about the second or third time, we immediately heard something hard hit the floor and dribble away.  My husband immediately said - "I know that sound - that's a golf ball!"

Low and behold, Hogan had finally "yorked" up the golf ball - it was now a color of black instead of that yellowish color it was when it went down but it was totally intact - glow stick and all!  Here we are two days later, Hogan is feeling MUCH better!  Eating great again and not so smelly! 

There could have been some bad consequences over this but we were lucky!  We've learned our lesson - no playing fetch with golf balls!  We stay strictly with soccer balls and frisbees which he LOVES to fetch and there is no danger of swallowing!

hogan in kitchen

Jeanean Gendron
The Address Realty - Redding, CA
Specializing in Selling Unique Properties
Melissa, well I laughed so hard....I had tears in my eyes. I loved this story and you made my night. I can go to bed now happy and still smiling. I am so glad Hogan is fine after this rather awful experience. Great writing! So enjoyed it!
Jan 22, 2008 03:37 PM
Libby Cousins
Extraordinary Processing - Spokane, WA
Contract Mortgage Processor, licensed in WA

Oh my goodness!  That story is too funny!  You have such a way with words and I can so totally picture the entire ordeal. I can realte to that terrible bad breath that a dog gets when there is something wrong. Our puppy (jsut turned a year) had awful breath about 2 weeks ago. After two days, I couldn't STAND it and took her to the vet. Turns out she has an auto-immune problem that we hope she will be able to get over without needing meds for life (since she already needs some for epilepsy). I think it is amazing that their breath gives such insight to their health.

Glad to hear that you got the golf ball back and that your dog is doing well! Thanks for the laugh!

Jan 22, 2008 03:42 PM
Mary Warren
Las Vegas, NV
Too funny, pooooooor Hogan though...I can't imagine going around with a golf ball in my stomach for 6 months!  I'm glad everything turned out ok!
Jan 22, 2008 03:53 PM
Roberta LaRocca
Simply Vegas Real Estate - Las Vegas, NV
REALTOR®, Broker, Salesperson, NV. Lic BS.507
Melissa, Poor Hogan!  I can't believe that ball was somewhere rolling around for all those months and then finally came out!  You are lucky that he is okay.  Lesson learned, no more small objects for Hogan! :)
Jan 22, 2008 03:58 PM
Vickie Nagy
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - Palm Springs, CA
Vickie Jean the Palm Springs Condo Queen

Thanks for sharing. We all need a bit more humor in these dark rainy days of winter.

Vickie Nagy   http://www.besttrivalleyhomes.com

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Jan 22, 2008 04:11 PM
Nancy Brenner
Referral Associates of Georgia, Inc. - Roswell, GA
Roswell Georgia Real Estate Agent
Too funny but...  Poor poochie.  So glad he's feeling better and the air is clearer.  :-)
Jan 22, 2008 04:28 PM
Karen Anne Stone
New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Real Estate
Hi Melissa:  Hogan looks so sad in your picture of him, but I would guess that if you or I swallowed a golf ball six months ago, and finally got around to "yorking it"... we'd have a pretty sad look on our faces, too.  Thanks for sharing.
Jan 22, 2008 05:13 PM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

wow that's funny.  In the early 90's my dog had to have surgery to remove something he ate and they saved us a bag of the other stuff they found.  He ate toys, shoes, remote controls, razor blades (thus the surgery) ...

6 months later and coming back out through the front end...

Jan 22, 2008 09:56 PM
Brigita McKelvie, Associate Broker
Cindy Stys Equestrian and Country Properties, Ltd. - Lehigh Valley, PA
The Broker with horse sense and no horsing around
Hard to believe the ball just sat there for 6 months.  It must have felt funny to him to have something roll around in the stomach all that time!  LOL  Glad to hear he's feeling much better.
Jan 22, 2008 11:50 PM
Melissa Corman Sieg
Corman Home Sales & Property Management - State College, PA

Thanks for all your comments - Here is another picture of Hogan looking must happier - I thought you would like it!  While I know we can all laugh about it now, I know how extremely lucky we were to not have anything serious go wrong with him through this ordeal.   Let's hope we don't have anything like this happen again!

Hogan outdoors

Jan 23, 2008 05:55 AM
Gayle Balaban
The Best Spot Realty/Waterfront Real Estate/Ooltewah Real E - Chattanooga, TN
E. TN Waterfront Real Estate
golf balls are dangerous for even small dogs.  I am happy for you that he did not develop bloat.
Jan 23, 2008 11:28 AM
Anonymous
Melissa Sieg

Gayle - You are absolutely right - I'm also very happy we didn't have to deal with that.  We've learned our lesson and while the story ended on a good note, I hope others will learn from this!

Thanks!

Jan 23, 2008 11:36 AM
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