i am going to try to write the christmas thank you letter today cuz we need to get it off in the next couple of weeks. hard to write when i am in this kind of frame of mind tho and this mornings crises did not make it any easier.
i was out in the barn yard when suddenly i heard a dog screaming...not prudence or any of the other overly bonded to me freak outs...this was true terror and pain.
oh my freaking god...al fell trying to climb the fence. his toe was caught in the wire and he was screamimg, thrashing and trying to escape.
i added my screams to his screams for help as i held him up against the fence to prevent his amputating his toe. no one heard either one of us...between different buildings with closed doors, ringing phones, barking dogs, ipods, concentrating on individual tasks..al and i were out there alone in a sea of chaos.
that sucked..seemed like forever...was maybe 5 minutes or so before angelina, renee and colleen all came...renee helped me hold him..colleen and angelina ran to find the wire cutters (which i had just moved to a totally different spot when i cleaned up the tool section of the shop.)
al gave a final struggle and suddenly was free...i was looking around on the ground for his toe as he flew away to the pond. it wasn't there..so it must still be attached...we went looking and caught up with him...still there but broken for sure.
i called the vets...ok for pain meds...by tomorrow if he stopped weight bearing, bring him in and they would splint it. he had some pain meds...he had some ice packs and tomorrow we will see if he needs a splint to keep mobile cuz we do not want a 16 yr old dog to hold that leg up for too long or his muscles in that leg will atrophy away.
i have gone out and bought emergency whistles...one for each staff and some for the volunteers when they are here...from now on each person is to put on a whistle as soon as they arrive...keep them on while they are here and put them back again when they leave. they are for emergencies only (not needing someone to help us move something) they are good whistles...can reach up to a mile and are used by the coast guard so they should do for us. if anyone ever hears a whistle, they are to drop everything and run to help. hope that solves this problem that just cropped up....free to think about other problems as they arrive.
like...my chest hurts again today.
I know. I also tried the ASPCA and they suggested Humane Society International (www.hsi.org), the World Society for the Protection of Animals (www.wspa-international.org), and the BC SPCA (which I assume they have already contacted). I sent an email to NWT SPCA with their suggestions - I just wish there was something else that we could do to help.