In a previous post titled "Muddy Days" located a few stories down on this page, I mentioned how this time of year is difficult for most dog owners in that after lettting 'em out in the yard, little (or big) paws must be cleaned off before our furry friends are allowed back indoors. This simple task prevents footprints from appearing all over rugs, linoleum, etc.

So, on Saturday afternoon, just as we were getting ready to go out to dinner for the evening, I was perforing the paw cleaning ritual on each of our four dogs consisting of three Shetland Sheepdogs and a tri-color Collie. When I got to Lily:
 
...the sweetest dog we have, Sheltie or otherwise, I noticed that she had some blue coloring on her right-front paw. Thinking it was merely something she had managed to prance through as she was running around her yard, I wiped it off the best I could with the towel we keep outside for this purpose and thought nothing else of the matter. That was until I ventured back indoors...

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Following the last of the pack into the house (a.k.a. "den"), I was preparing to wash up a bit before we made our way out to a favorite diner in the neighborhood. It was then that I heard me bride say, "Could you come here and look at this?"

Walking into a bedroom recently converted into an office  when one of our sons bought his own place (someday a topic for my sister web site Netscrapes.com), I saw my wife standing with a pile of some gray-ish material in her hand. On the floor was more of the gray substance, surrounded by a blue-ish powder. Thinking the color looked vaguely familiar, I had a sinking feeling I knew where our discussion was going.

"Do you know what this is?," the bride asked?

I answered a truthful "no."

She then said "It was once a Brillo pad; Lily apparently ATE IT."

Turning around, there was Lily listening to our conversation, head cocked to one side as if to say, "Yeah, that's right, and it tasted darn good!"

When we thought about the scenario of events leading up to this minor calamity, we put together the fact that this incident had occurred about 35-40 minutes ago. Lily was showing no ill-effects from her endeavors but we contacted our vet anyway. Since it was after 5:00 p.m., we needed to leave a message with his answering service but within minutes he returned our call.

After explaining that our Lily had eaten a Brillo pad, guess what he recommended? Feed Lily to be certain any metal particles might be absorbed and eventually pass into the environment! So, after the trouble she caused us we had to "reward" her (and the other dogs who of course were gathered around) with several slices of bread. After that, she was fed another meal of regular dog food.

The next day, we were careful to note if the bio-degradable after effects of her meal appreciated the precautions we had employed. Let me just say that a careful review of the aftermath of the incident revealed a certain by-product that spakled and twinkled in the respendent sunlight of an late winter/early spring morning.