Chapter 48 Summary and Analysis

While tending to the cattle at Jack Scott's farm, Herriot meets the happy sheepdog, Rip, who delights in the companionship of Scott and his children who accompany their father even on veterinary visits. While irrigating a cow's uterus and treating a bullock's infection, Herriot notices Rip's tail swishing back and forth. Scott asks him to check on his dog's lameness. The right foreleg trails limply whenever Rip walks.

Learning that the limp developed after Rip was kicked in the chest by a cow, Herriot diagnoses radial paralysis because one of the nerves of the leg passes over the rib cage. He tells Scott there is no treatment for a nerve injury, although it could heal within weeks or months. Then one Sunday morning Scott appears at Skeldale House with Rip in his arms. Scott reports ruefully that Rip has been run...