We’ve always called Rigley, “our athlete”. At the park he’s a Frisbee dog and will do anything to get to a tennis ball, while Tasha sniffs at gopher holes and points at birds in trees. I purchased a brand new Chuck-it and looked forward to presenting it to Rigley once he arrived. The morning after the dogs reached the surf camp the 4 of us excitedly took the dogs to the beach to test drive Rigley’s new toy and enjoy the doggie freedom Nica beaches have to offer.
We had been on the beach all of 10 minutes when Kharron threw a long one that bounced close to some large rocks. Rigley went full force right into one and yelped like a little girl at a Bieber concert. Kharron ran to him while I stayed back with the kids. I could hear him shout, “Its bad! Its really bad.” Kharron carried Rigley back up the stairs to the surf camp, his leg dangling in an unnatural position as they passed us.
We had just been making fun of my friend Goyo who runs the camp because he had to go to Managua that day to do some errands. Little did we know then, that Kharron & Rigely would be his passengers. We are lucky that Goyo already knew of a great vet and surgeon and they were able to drop Rigley off on a Saturday for an inspection and hopeful surgery on Monday. It turned out to be a comminuted fracture, says my brother the radiologist. Dr Dorn (who turns out usually works on humans) did an outstanding job. He opted to put pins through Rigley’s bones instead of an invasive surgery since one of the bones was in too many pieces. He explained that the fragments would slowly move back together while the contraption stabilized his leg.
We had to leave the surf camp without Rigley because our home in San Juan del Sur was ready for us to move into. Kharron will return to Managua on Tuesday to pick up our wounded athlete and deliver him to his new home.