The Bow And The Bees

The pictures don't really do it justice, especially since I didn't take them right away, but my dog got in a fight with a bumblebee...and the bee almost won.

It was an average sunny (as opposed to the recently rainy) Saturday afternoon in April (see how behind I am on blogging?!). Birds were singing, cicadas were be annoying...er, chirping or whatever it is that they do, the leaves were blowing in the breeze, oak pollen was filling our pool (damn oak pollen) and our dog was surveying all of this from his perch on the top step of the back patio, per usual. At some point, I'm not sure when since I was busy napping or doing something else important that I usually do on Saturday afternoons, he went off to play in the grass. He never realized that the game of Chasing Buzzing Bugs would get violent or dangerous...those words aren't in his vocabulary. Somehow he found just the bee to piss off and chomp at the same time. The bee left his stinger in Bow's top lip as a reminder and warning that you shouldn't play that game with bumblebees. A lesson I'm not sure Bow has learned.

We had no idea that all of this backyard drama had occurred. We did think it was strange that Bow slunk off to the master closet after playing only to find out later that he was off to lick his wounds, literally and metaphorically. When he came out almost an hour later his face was so swollen, hysterical and sad all in one glance. After calling the emergency animal hospital, giving him Benadryl and locating/removing the stinger from his upper lip did I finally think about grabbing the camera. Here's a mugshot:


Funnily enough, later that evening another bee found it's way into our dining area and started buzzing between the blinds and the window. Who was there to seek him out? You got it. Apparently, you can't teach an old dog new tricks or to stay away from bees...even if he is still a puppy in the head.