My two-year-old daughter loves to give dog treats to our two dogs, Wrigley and Brownie. She goes into the pantry and grabs a handful of bones, with the dogs close behind her.

One bone for Wrigley. One bone for Brownie. Two bones for Wrigley. Two bones for Brownie. This keeps going until I step in and let her know the dogs don’t need any more treats.

One morning, while I was cleaning up breakfast dishes, my daughter was back to her generous way of feeding the dogs. I can’t say for sure how many bones were given out, but I heard her say, “Here you go” way too many times.

“Hold on, that’s enough treats for the dogs,” I told my toddler as I closed the milk bone box and shut the pantry door.

Apparently, I didn’t shut the door all the way because it wasn’t much longer until I heard my toddler screaming, “Ow! Ow! Ow!”.

I turned and ran to her. She was holding one end of the dog bone in her left hand. The other end of the bone was in Wrigley’s mouth. Unfortunately, the tip of her finger still on the bone was also in the dog’s mouth.

Before I go much further, I’ll tell you a little bit about Wrigley. This week she turns 13-years-old. She is the sweetest, most gentle dog around. She would never hurt anyone. But in her older age, she doesn’t mess around when it comes to food. Offer her a treat and give it to her quickly so she has time to devour it in seconds. My toddler hasn’t learned this very important rule yet apparently.

I opened Wrigley’s mouth and freed my daughter’s finger. Wrigley happily had the bone to herself. My daughter, not so happy, began to cry. She had a small cut next to her fingernail. As tears rolled down her cheek I worked on calming her down with hugs, an ice pack, and a band-aid on her injured finger.

“Are you ok?” I asked.

Slowly she looked up at me and stuck her middle finger straight up in the air. “I got bit on my middle finger,” she cried. Never has being flicked off been so cute.

I carried her to the couch to comfort her some more. As we sat on the couch, I started thinking, “Do people need a tetanus shot after getting bitten by a dog?”.

I figured I should call the pediatrician, just to be safe. The nurse confirmed I needed an appointment later in the day.

At the pediatrician, I found out I made the right decision to bring her in so quickly after getting bitten. A dog bite can turn bad quickly. Thankfully, my daughter didn’t need a shot. What she did need was a prescription for amoxicillin to keep a possible infection from setting in. She will soon be on the mend. I was relieved!

Sure, a bitten finger wasn’t a good thing to happen, but I did get her to the pediatrician quickly to keep an infection from happening. That’s a small win for this winging-it Dad.