My Poor Dog !!!, page 1

Originally posted by Flyingclaydisk
This is no conspiracy, it is just an unfortunate event that happened tonight...

As might be apparent, we own a ranch, a cattle ranch. Cows need hay, and lot's of it. Over the past two years in the western United States we've been experiencing a tremendous drought. Hay is rare, and expensive. I digress.

Tonight, my wife was out getting some hay for the cows. Her and her best friend went out to get a bale off the stack and take it to the cows. My wife knows how to run the skid (skidsteer loader). On this particular occasion there were some pallets in front of the stack (from earler hay) that were blocking her way from getting the skid up to the hay stack. So, her and her friend pulled the pallets away from the front so she could spear the hay bale (these are 4x4x8 foot bales...900+ lbs.). When they pulled the older pallets from below the bottom bales shifted (and tilted) forwards. The top bales rolled off and fell.

Fortunately, my wife and her friend were able to get out of the way, but my (other) best friend, hunting dog and soul mate Labrador, Shelby, was not. The bale fell right on top of her! It smashed her flat like a pancake.

I was off in a different pasture dealing with the bulls, so I didn't see it happen. My wife's friend came running over and said that a bale had fallen on Shelby. I was instantly in shock, like I didn't even believe what she was saying. She said Shelby was still trapped under the bale...I took off running.

Now we've all heard about people doing super-human things under extreme stress, right? By the time I got up to the other corral, my wife had, unbelievably, rolled the big square bale off the dog (don't even want to know how she did it). Shelby was down, and obviously injured, but like any Lab she didn't want to let on she was hurt. Trooper that she is, she got up, limping badly and came over to me wagging her tail (breaks my heart!).

As soon as I got to her (Shelby), I put my arms around her and she crumbled into my arms, unable to stand. I carried her into the house and called our large animal vet. We went through the triage symptoms, Shelby wasn't dying (gums, breathing, temps), thank GOD!! I was beside myself.

Vet ramped up and offered to come to the clinic and give her a CAT scan, but suggested we just watch her. We had some doggie pain-killer meds from when Shel got bitten by a rattlesnake earlier this past year, so we gave her some of those and she's resting. Very sore, alive, but resting. Vet is standing by, and calling every two hours for developments.

Good grief, I've had dogs get stomped by cows...and this one just rips my heart out!! I just love this dog more than anything I can even say!

My Poor Dog.

Wow.. that is terrible. My heart goes out to you. I hope she will hang in. I have had Labs for 10 years plus and have 2 right now. Your right they will not let you know at all if they are in Pain. They have to really be hurting to show any kind of injury. Take care and I hope she will be ok.