90 minutes or $200

The children took the dogs into the woods yesterday. They played with a bunch of other children for about two hours. They neglected the dogs. Upon their return, they only had one dog, Chester, with them. So, their father and the other children's' father went out in the truck to look for our lost dog. While the dads were gone, I noticed that Chester had a stick caught between his teeth again. This caused a visit to the vet last time costing approximately $100.

The dads returned with Schnitzel, our lost dog, and the other family headed for home. Jeff and I worked with Chester, trying to get him to open his mouth and let us pull out the stick from between his teeth. Finally, we got a wooded spatula from the kitchen to pry it out just in case he snapped his jaw shut. After about 30 minutes of trying, Chester was so hot that he was panting heavily. While his mouth was open, Jeff saw an opportunity, popped the stick out, and we save about $100.

Today, I noticed that Schnitzel had a bunch of short quills or thorns in and around her mouth. At least she is less threatening with which to work. Jeff and I worked on the back porch with Schnitzel, two pair of needle-nose pliers, tweezers, Anbesol, and cotton swabs. After an hour of wrestling, flailing, shedding hair, and sweating, the quills were out. We probably saved another $100.

I'm really tempted to make the children pay us a vet bill, just to prove a point, but I set them to doing some extra chores instead.