You may remember Pickles. His very-pregnant mom was dropped off at our house early one morning and a few days later, she gave birth to nine puppies. He was one of them.

With his comically short legs and Boss Hogg attitude, we couldn't stand the thought of letting him live with someone else so we decided to keep him.

This past Sunday morning, Pickles lived his own St. Valentine's Day massacre after a fight with two pit bulls. Thankfully, he's still alive but he has a pretty steep hill to climb for his recovery.

After hearing a commotion in the back yard, I went outside and found two of my neighbor's dogs inside the yard going berserk. Petey and Duke were barking but they didn't appear to be fighting each other. As I got closer, I saw Pickles on his back trying his best to avoid their snapping teeth. I screamed at them to stop and rushed toward them.

The distraction was enough for Pickles to get away but he'd barely made a few steps before one of the dogs circled around and began biting him again. His coat was covered in blood and the snarling dog was inflicting serious damage as evidenced by his high-pitched yelps.

I punched the pit bull in her back several times while trying to keep my distance. I remember screaming at myself for being so stupid and reckless to get in the middle of them. I stepped away and began screaming at Perry to help. Pickles managed to dart underneath a patio chair just as Perry met me at the door. He was in his underwear and shoving cartridges into his rifle as he headed out into the yard. I texted our neighbor then watched over Pickles through the window. He was panting, but I couldn't see anything from his neck down so I had no idea about the extent of his injuries.

The dogs owner rushed down and quickly regained control of her animals and once the dust had settled, Perry could see Pickles needed immediate care. He threw on some clothes and headed back out with our son Jesse to load Pickles into the truck. The pup wailed each time they tried to put him in the large laundry basket I'd lined with old beach towels so they had to carry him using a sheet. After spending most of the day in surgery, Dr. Amy Mordecai with Emergi-Pet called with an update.

'That poor baby was chewed up,' she said. 'The surgery took a lot longer than we anticipated but we've cleaned all of his wounds...'.

Dr. Mordecai then explained why the surgery had lasted longer than she initially anticipated and why she'd inserted a drain tube into one of his wounds. Muscle had been torn away in several places and she'd sutured many lacerations but just as many had been left open to decrease his risk of developing an infection.

'We're not out of the woods yet,' she cautioned before we were instructed to pick him up at 6:00 am the following morning to transport him to Tidmore's for additional care. Emergency pet care isn't cheap, but I don't begrudge the service one cent. From the first phone call to our last interaction, everyone was professional, patient and caring.

Three days later and Pickles is finally home but it's obvious by the way he plods around that he's very sore. He has a long row to hoe, and we're still keeping a close eye on several of his puncture wounds, but Pickles is tough. He'll make it.

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