Ruby Sue and the Wart Lip

After Ruby Sue had lived with us for a few months, it was becoming increasingly clear that this dog had ISSUES. She was constantly licking everything in sight, and carrying things around in her mouth, and trying to sit on us whenever she could. The sitting thing would have been cute if she were, oh, maybe 15 pounds. At 55 pounds, however, it was really just pretty frustrating. The vet said she was a puppy trapped in a dog's body because she wasn't properly socialized when she was young. All I knew was that she was ANNOYING AS HELL! Whenever we tried to sit on the floor (as you often do when you're six- and eight-year old children, or the parent of kids those ages), she would be right there, on top of us, plopping her fat, furry butt on us and licking our faces. UGH!

That's when she developed a dog wart on her lip.

Back to the vet we went... again. The older I get, the more I realize that the adage is true--you really do learn something new every day. Apparently, facial warts are very common in dogs, especially dogs who are two years old and under. In fact, there are entire websites dedicated to selling (unapproved and kind of sketchy) holistic products that claim to prevent, treat, and eliminate warts on dogs. Who knew?

Here's the technical description from petmd.com of what she had, in case you're interested. If health-related stuff grosses you out, I advise you to skip this paragraph.

The term papillomatosis is used to describe a benign tumor on the surface of the skin. A virus, known as the papillomavirus, causes the growth. The general appearance is wart-like, raised, with the central surface having an open pore if the wart is inverted. In dogs, the warts are most commonly presented in a raised manner; however, inverted warts are not uncommon. The pigmented appearance normally presents as a rough surface that is flat in appearance and black in colour. 

Blech!

The vet assured us it was really not anything to be concerned about. Ruby Sue had likely contracted it from another dog (which made me wonder how many other "new-to-us" dog owners from that rescue were dealing with the same issue at the same time as we were). It didn't require any treatment or medicine, and would go away on its own, probably in a few months. Basically, we just had to look at it for the next several weeks, and think about it any time she got near us. Humans can't contract it from dogs, but it was disgusting, and it really didn't help with the whole bonding experience.

"Hi, Owen! Allow me to lick your face with my wart lip! Then I'll sit on your lap!"

Thankfully, the vet had been right. The wart lip did go away on its own eventually. I'm sad to say, however, that the licking, carrying stuff around in her mouth, and trying to sit on us, have not. Two years later, and we're still trying to coax the unsocialized puppy out of this crazy dog's big body.

At least once the wart lip went away, it wasn't *quite* as annoying.

I guess that adage it true, too--everything is relative.