Delivery Truck Tire Proves Poor Choice of Chew Toy

While it may not be the safest practice, car chasing is a hobby many dogs, including 3-year-old boxer Jojo, seem to enjoy. Catching a car, however, is pretty much never a pleasant experience for a dog, especially when that car is a several ton delivery truck.

“I don’t know what Jojo was thinking when he bit that tire,” said Rebekah Hodges of Jacksonville, Fla. “The delivery truck wasn’t moving fast, just pulling out of the driveway, but I guess it doesn’t take much to tear out a tooth. Surprisingly, he seemed fine. If I hadn’t seen the blood on the ground, I might not have thought anything was wrong. I inspected his jaw and pulled his lip back. That’s when I noticed his lower canine tooth sticking out. It looked like the front of the tooth was still attached, but the back was torn out and you could see a hole in his jaw. The tooth itself was parallel to his jaw.”

Hodges immediately brought Jojo to the emergency room, where a veterinarian cleaned the wound, repositioned the tooth and used wire to brace it in place against the surrounding teeth. To make sure that no other damage was sustained in the accident, Jojo also had dental X-rays taken at the University of Florida. All the veterinarians who treated Jojo told Hodges they had never seen an injury quite like his before.

“They had seen dogs break teeth from biting objects, but never one that actually bit a moving tire,” said Hodges. “I guess it’s one of those things that you hear about, but you don’t see it happen very often. They said he was really lucky. He had no cuts or other breaks, and he was able to keep the tooth. The veterinarians did a phenomenal job and Jojo recovered in no time, but I don’t think he’ll be biting any tires anymore.”