Last week, Jean Mosher was at the dog park with her rescue pup, Jaqweenie, when she witnessed a dramatic performance worthy of the stage.
Jaqweenie was playing with one of his best friends when he suddenly stopped and sat down. The other dog returned to his humans, but Jaqweenie remained frozen in place, trembling.
“Jaqweenie was just sitting by himself a distance away, and I knew something was wrong,” Mosher told The Dodo. “I went over, and he was shaking and panting and curling his little foot up.”
Concerned bystanders at the park began gathering around the seemingly injured pup to see what was wrong with his paw.
“I assumed it was a terrible injury because he’d been in so much pain the first year of his life,” Mosher said. “I thought he had a higher pain tolerance.”
When Mosher met Jaqweenie at a shelter three years ago, it was love at first sight.
“It was December, and he was the only dog wearing a jacket because he was so cold,” Mosher said. “And I saw him through the slats in the fence, and he was just so cute. You could also kind of tell he was going to be a jerk based on his face … and I just immediately fell in love with him and had to adopt him.”
Jaqweenie has a very large overbite, which gives him a unique, sassy expression. And as a young dog, he had to have some teeth removed due to his misaligned jaw. He got through his surgeries like a champ, so Mosher assumed something must be really wrong with his paw to elicit such an extreme reaction.
After calling three vets in the area, she finally found one who was willing to see him right away.
“We rushed him over there, and that’s when we discovered nothing was wrong,” Mosher said.
After a thorough examination, the vet couldn’t determine the source of Jaqweenie’s pain and suggested that perhaps one of his knees had popped out of joint due to his luxating patellas. But Mosher asked her to check Jaqweenie’s paw one last time — and that’s when they saw the cause of the dog’s troubles.
“She checked again and found a cut so tiny that it didn’t bleed,” Mosher said. “She said it was essentially a papercut.”
The cut didn’t require a bandage, but Mosher thought it would make Jaqweenie feel better, so the vet wrapped his foot and charged Mosher $150 for the visit.
Even though Jaqweenie’s reaction was dramatic, knowing her pup was OK was worth the vet bill. “It seemed to make him feel seen and taken care of,” Mosher said.
For the rest of the day, Jaqweenie kept up his act — limping around the house and demanding cuddles from his parents. “He had the bandage for a full 24 hours, but the next night he took it off himself and was walking perfectly fine,” Mosher said.
“I assumed he was so tough from being a stray the first year of his life, but I think he’s gotten a little soft,” she added.
Jaqweenie has always liked to be babied, but now his mom knows just how far the little dog will go to be the center of attention.
“He’s the funniest dog,” Mosher said. “He’s super sweet, but he’s got that ‘Jaqweenie First’ policy. So he’s a nice guy — but he’s kind of spicy.”
