Posted by mair on April 3, 2004, at 14:53:11
...I'm still sort of shaking. I got a call from a neighbor, I hadn't even met yet telling me my dog, Murphy, had fallen through the ice in his pond. My husband and I rushed down there and it was pretty awful because Murph had his front paws clutching the ice but he wasn't strong enough to pull himself up, and everything my neighbors and we tried, couldn't break up the ice enough to provide him with a channel to get out. He started using up way too much energy trying to keep himself afloat and was crying alot. A policeman came, and tried to lasso him to pull him out but was pretty much unable to do much. Two fire trucks showed up and seemed to take an awfully long time working their way down to the pond. Murphy was really struggling at this point and both my husband and I were clearly contemplating going into the water and breaking through the ice to get him. Finally one of the fireman was able to use a long ladder to break up the ice and the rest of us were able to coax him to swim to the edge - in just enough time because I didn't think he could go much longer. He was in some pretty frigid water for about 15 minutes - we spent alot of time towelling him off and now just finished drying him off with hair dryers. He's making quite a name for himself with the local police - I just got a warning mailed to me because he was caught chasing cows. He's a big sweet golden retriever who is not terrifically bright but hopefully bright enough now to stay away from spring ice. (dream on)
We're just so relieved and as frightening as it was, I think it was good for me to forget for awhile how miserable I've been.
Mair
poster:mair
thread:332127
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040331/msgs/332127.html