I stopped by the Calvert's home yesterday while on the road, to visit with John and Tammy, and right before I got there, John had been playing with a small dog that had come to their door. The dog had come inside and seemed friendly. John checked his collar ID, and when he was putting the dog back outside, John said the dog changed when he saw the security bars on the door, and turned on him and bit his right hand 5 times.

I had spoken with John about an hour before and everything was normal at that point, but when my son and I drove up to the house, I sensed something was not right. I expected John to meet me upon arrival, as is his customary way. This time the front door was open and neither he nor Tammy were at the front of the house.

After knocking, they finally came to the door, and were in the process of cleaning up a series of very nasty wounds on John's right hand.

We did manage to contact the dog's owner and have verified with the vet, information regarding the dog's shots. It was about a month behind on the Rabies vaccine, but is to be tested at the vet's office today. Most likely there is no problem in that regard, but it's better to be 100% sure.

John would not go to the doctor yesterday, but hopefully, he has been convinced to do so today. A couple of the bites look like they could use stitches, and he could probably do better if a doctor saw the wounds, in case of infection.

Anyway, keep them in your thoughts and prayers. John turned 97 last week, and this has to be tough on him.

Wow....sorry to hear that. Give him our best. I really doubt that the dog has rabies unless it lives with bats or something so don't worry about that.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Had it been a wild animal, the cause for concern would be much more. But this dog was well taken care of, mostly an indoor animal, and unlikely to have encountered any rabid animals in the area.

John likes to be seen as tough, arguing about going to the doctor, insisting that he didn't need stitches (despite everyone else saying he probably did), but the realization that rabies is fatal if left unchecked, seemed to change his tune, at least in that regard. Understandably, he wanted to be 100% certain.

I talked to him this afternoon. He is doing better, the dog checked out fine, and he said that he will go to the doctor to get some antibiotics. At least then, he will be seen by someone who can make an official diagnosis.

He'll tough it out. He has to get in more years that Vernon....that would be cool.