Injured dog

[jwhawkridge]

Little bit of background: I have a chocolate lab who is almost 2 and a yellow lab that is just over a year. These are my first dogs I'm raising myself. I've hardly ever spent more than a day apart from them for their whole lives thus far. They are going to be great hunters and don't have a mean bone in their bodies. They love everyone and everyone loves them.

Anyway, I had my dogs out at the local dog park Monday night. We went for a walk down in the woods between the park and the river, an area that has been cleaned and trails created: people walk their dogs all the time down there. I've had the boneheads down there dozens of times and they have had a blast every single time. The girlfriend noticed blood on the leaves an thought someone was poaching deer. I called the dogs back; if there were deer in the area I didn't want them chasing them. When they came back there was a more blood appearing on the leaves. So my first thought was that one of the dogs had cut something. Checked the chocolate, he was clean. Checked the yellow and he was gushing blood from a pad. When I got as much dirt out of it as I could I found the pad was literally sliced in two. Very clean cut but all the way through the pad and to the webbing. So I took them back to the truck and got them home. We cleaned and bandaged the foot up as well as we could. I'll tell ya, that pup is one heck of a trooper, no whining, no whimpering, and no aggression. I hoped it would stop bleeding and dry out. Next morning it was still bleeding and getting worse. So I took him to the vet yesterday and they said we'd like to operate right away. Two hours and two-hundred thirty-eight dollars and forty-four cents later I had my dog back.

All he's ever wanted to do is hunt. I had him out last year pheasant hunting when he was three months old, he couldn't scare anything up but he kept up with me. I've been training him all year and was so pumped to actually see him work for the first time. It's going to be at least two weeks until he has his stitches out and probably longer until I can hunt him. This means that he's going to miss his very first pheasant opener and a good chunk of the season all because some (Contact Us Please) left metal or glass out in the woods. If I see anyone, and I mean anyone, leave anything in the woods, on a lake, or even on the sidewalk I will be confronting them and possibly contacting the authorities about littering. I've not been an angel about leaving no traces of myself in the wild but from now on I'll try to be. A very special big thanks goes out, from my emptied pocket and a very hurt pup, to those people who feel the need to leave their junk in great outdoors! In conclusion, I'd like to ask that everyone always cleans up after themselves. That's all.

[Kallista]

I agree... beer cans on shore and in the water all along boat landings... It needs to stop i agree.. Broken bottles on paths, from the kids breaking them as they party in the woods so they don't get caught..

But as far as your dog goes... So what if he misses this years hunt, you still have your buddy. and it wasn't something that couldnt be fix, and in the end he will be fine, it could have been so much worst. be thankful it only cost that much and not thousands of dollars and one dog that wont recover. Money well spent when it comes to our buddies.. i would spend anything to help my bud.

[jwhawkridge]

I hear ya man. If it had been a thousand bucks, I'd have paid it. I'm just glad he's back in one piece.

I'm just pissed because of someone's irresponsibility my pup and I are paying the price.

[Kallista]

I am glad your buddy is ok... yeah i know a few times i have went up two a few drunks getting in their boats with beer cans and tossing a empty over into the water, i guess cause i am a girl they did take a net and get the can out, or maybe cause i was biotching so much too lol

good luck to you and your dog..

if i see ya yelling at someone about littering i got your back too

[CodyDawg]

How lucky you are to have 2 dogs!

Last week, while walking the dog on a paved trail, I found where someone had broken a bottle over a bench. Now quite often, I am sad to say, I pass by litter as there is just so much. But this time I stopped because it was such a danger and cleaned it all up and walked gingerly for the next half mile with shards of glass in both hands to the nearest garbage can. As I threw it away, I was proud of myself, but since nobody saw me, I thought, such a good deed and no thanks. Oh well. Then I read this and I sure am glad I did.

[Kallista]

Thank you Cody.. you saved a dog or child from getting hurt along that path.

Good Job..and thanks again..

[jwhawkridge]

Good job dude! I thank you, my dogs (one who's named Cody!) thank you, and everyone who loves the outdoors should thank you too!

[CodyDawg]

Yeah, my dog was named Cody too, thus the handle. Sadly, we had to put her down May 12. It still hurts to think about it.

I will look at little a little differently from now on thanks to that story.

[Mr. B]

jwhawkridge,

I know what you are going through. On Wednesday I took my 5.5 year old lab Maggie out on a short scouting run. We were only out forty minutes. Sometime in that forty minutes she had an encounter with a barb wire fence (still kicking myself for not putting her vest on). I have no idea when she ran in to it because I did not see it and did not notice the blood until a couple hours later (did not find it when I checked her over before putting her in the truck).

After a call to the emergency vet she was given the first appointment Wednesday morning. Twelve stitches, four staples and $115 dollars later she was good to go. The vet did say I could hunt her this weekend as long as she is moving well on Friday and she wears her vest. I was surprised I was expecting the vet bill to be much larger. Another surprise was that the cone cost more than the actual exam. Worst thing is that Maggie pulls the cone off within 5 minutes. Good thing she has shown no interest in her stitches.

I hope your pup makes a speedy recover and don't worry there will be plenty of birds later this season.

[SDbowhunter]

Fortunately Its a pretty long season. If nothing else if you really want to give your dog a good experience go to game farm, or pay better yet pay some farmer late in the season shoot your birds and everyone goes home happy. fortunately you have another 9-14 years with him. I too have been trying to leave any public area better then i found it. I was scouting/hunting WPA's last weekend and ended up picking up 4 or 5 bottles 30 shot shell cases and a bag of garbage someone left at a boat landing. Hopefully your dog will heal up quickly.

[jwhawkridge]

Thanks for the support guys!!! Keep our public lands clean!

If the WMA I've been scouting keeps putting birds out like it has been I'll get plenty of birds for him!!!

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

I can sympathize with your situation. If you only knew the medical bills I have seen. However you have no way of knowing it was glass or metal. There are things in nature that cut. I'm not a fan of dog parks anyways because of the risk of dog attack/fight. Its a bummer but hang in there. I just came off an 8-week healing time that was tough and am on pins and needles watching her start to work this season. I missed part of last season too.