While plowing the driveway, the tractor was almost out of gas, so I drove it up to my shed to gas it up. I heard what sounded like a pack of coyotes from on top of the hill.
My thinking was that they had come down from the mountains since it snowed looking for food.
I run to the house because the kids were out sled riding, my thinking by sounds I was hearing, they were packed up and just up around the pond. DD was inside, DS was shoveling snow from the steps, I told DW to get him in as I explained what I had heard up at the pond.
Getting the combo correct, I got one of my high powered rifles out, located the already loaded clip, loaded my weapon.
About 2-3 minutes had passed by this time.
Armed, loaded, and ready to kill, I headed up the mountain toward the pond where the snarling/howl/barking was coming from. As a hunter, and a soldier, I used a method of scanning the area which covered the most ground quickly with my eyes. I searched quickly and didn't see a thing. I was looking for a pack of coyotes, and than heard the noise again.
There in the pond was our family dog peanut, howling and about dead.
I have a solar light that was mounted to a pole on our pier, I grabbed broke that off inoder to break the ice, that snapped off twice, I ran back down towards the house and yelled for DW, didn't see her. Returned back to the pond where I used the butt of my weapon to break the ice, the dog had yellow snot like stuff coming from her mouth.
It was so short, it wasn't helping. I got up ran back to the house, where DW was coming up the hill and I told her to hand me the axe near the wood pile. We returned and I started to bust more ice with the weight of the axe laying on my stomach on the pier.
I told DW to go get something longer, I was busting a path through the ice towards the dog. She return minutes later with a spade shovel, the dog stopped yelping, and her ears went flat, she was ready to die, I saw it on her face and in her eyes, she had given up.
So with a couple hits with the shovel, nothing, and than the hardest wop I could do, laying sideways arm extended, the ice finally gave way, and I took the shovel and pinned the dog againist the ice edge and pulled her along till I pulled her out.
We got her in the house covered her with blankets and called the vet. The vet asked us to check her core temp, it was 89 degrees, the vet told me to get her in the tub in warm water right away. So we did, and after we dried her off, and put some blankets on her, she seemed very tired and sad. Called the vet back, she said to give her some food, and that seemed to make her feel better.
She seems to be okay, no organs seem to have shut down, but she is going to the vets tomorrow.
That happened to my dog when we were duck hunting a few miles from home. Duck fell on the ice and I couldn't stop him. I jumped in and broke the ice out to him with my elbows and shins (shins are still notched from that) when I got him out he went and got the stupid duck lol, then tried to go for the open water and fell through again and I busted out to him again. He kept the darn duck, but learned his lesson and went gingerly back over the ice to land. It was 5 degrees miles from home, my clothes were frozen and I was bloody and raw walking. Luckily someone picked us up and gave us a ride, or I'd have been dead at 15, but there was no more question about going after the dog than there would have been any family member.
ReplyDeleteBrought tears to my eyes! So glad you saved her! I wish her, and you, a speedy recovery. <3
ReplyDeleteYeah, dogs are family members. Had to jump into emergency water supply when my police dog ended up in the pond....my buddy, my partner. My dogs now, my only family :)
ReplyDeleteOh how scary that must have been for all of you… I am glad you BOTH made it back to the house alive and still able to enjoy life and living...
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