Wednesday, June 11, 2008. After having Abby overnight and getting a good look at her wound Dr. Zimmer decided he would keep her. He had spoken to the Dr. in Ft. Wayne and discussed her treatment. Susie mentioned that Dr. Zimmer sometimes likes a challenge, Abby posed a good one. It was decided that she should stay quiet for a few days to allow some of the natural healing process; Dr. Zimmer cleaned the wound, trimmed the dead tissue from it and treated it with a mixture that included Emu Oil. I had read some about the healing properties of Emu oil, it sounded like a great way to go to me. He wanted to let that work for a few days and then would attempt to close the wound.
In the mean time I had has some correspondence with the Sergeant regarding the man that shot Abby. She had talked with him, he admitted shoot the dog and that he felt he had done nothing wrong. She has also talked with his younger son who admitted that he had told Harry he could go into the quarry with dogs but he had assumed it was just for the day, not for any period of time. The Sergeant said it was up to me if I wanted to have her send it to the prosecutor. I told her yes!
Now I completely understand the old farmer mentality that this is my land and I can protect it with my gun. Ok, if you’re having a problem with a pack of wild dogs eating your chickens and all other avenues have failed I might be able to understand protecting the chickens. If a dog is obviously rabid you’re damned right do something about it. If a dog is attacking and the only self defense you have is to shoot it, I’d probably find myself doing that too. But Abby was just climbing up the quarry ridge sniffing everything and being a dog. She had paid the farmer no mind at all and had certainly done him no harm, she hadn’t even had the chance to catch a frog, so you’re damned right I want this to go to the prosecutor. I’m not really interested in seeing anyone go to jail, although I don’t know that Abby would agree with me if she could tell me what she thought, but I think they ought to take this guys’ guns away from him (before he shoots someone else) and make him pay for my poor dog’s care and maybe even help with the Abby Fund for other dogs that can use a hand due to some human’s stupidity. In fact maybe every human that is convicted of cruelty to animals should not only get the punishments the courts afford them usually but should have to contribute to a fund like the Abby Fund. Hmmmmmm, isn’t that food for thought.
Anyway, I’m getting carried away. I told the Sergeant yes, that I wanted restitution and some kind of justice for my dog, I faxed her the bills we had so far incurred and emailed her a picture of poor Abby’s butt (the one I already showed you). She said she’d be in touch.
So, now it was just a waiting game on both fronts. Waiting for Abby to heal and waiting for the slow hand of justice to accomplish its task.
Keep reading, keep passing it on. We’ll be back.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
#4 - Transfer to Pokagon Veterinary Hospital
Tuesday June 10, 2008 Harry, who is usually up all night and sleeping till at least 11am (artists....), got up early in the morning with me so he could drop me at my office (with only the one little car he'd have to drop me off then go) then head to Ft. Wayne in order to get back to the Pokagon Veterinary Hospital and Dr. Zimmer around 9am. Dr. Zimmer had stressed that he felt Abby was in very good hands in Ft. Wayne, that he felt she was getting excellent care where she was, but we wanted her closer to home and also felt maybe a rural veterinary hospital might not be as expensive as the one in the big city. So I went to work an hour early and Harry went to Ft. Wayne. The plan was that I would use my work's car and meet him at Dr. Zimmer's at around 9.
I pulled into Dr. Zimmer's just a few minutes after 9, Harry pulled in just a minute or two later. Abby got out of the car with one of those big plastic "lamp shade" collars (I guess the technical name is e-collar, at least that is how it was itemized on the bill) and a plastic guard "buttoned" to her nonexistent butt. I'm going to show you a picture of it and it's pretty ugly so be ready. ( 'Course there will be uglier pictures before we are done but you'll be able to see the amazing progress that has been made by Dr. Zimmer with this horrific wound.) My heart went out to her, it was the first time I'd seen her since we left her in Ft. Wayne on Saturday, she was moving slow but you could tell she was happy to see me. Her tail was waging. I had to wonder how she could even think about waging her tail. I would have thought it would really hurt but I guess I'm not to up on the anatomy of a dog, at least not what muscles do what, because I would have thought that the muscles that control her tail were gone considering the size of the hole on her back side.
It's kind of blurry to me right now but I'm pretty sure that it was Susie that greeted us and show us directly to an examination room. I will never, ever forget the look on Dr. Zimmer's face when he stepped into that room and took his first look at Abby, it was a holy crap look if I have ever seen one. A wow or woe or something like that involuntarily came out of his mouth and he kind of stepped back and just looked at it for what seemed like a few minutes at least.
Dr. Zimmer sat down in a chair in the corner and looked at us and said what would you do if I told you to turn around and take her back to Ft. Wayne. I said "well, I guess if that is what you told me to do that is what I would have to do, but I'd rather not." He had also reminded me that she had been getting very good care there. I told him I knew that but I had heard good things about him and he was closer to home and I thought he might not be quite as expensive (not that his care was of any lessor quality, just that things usually do cost more in the city than they do in the smaller rural areas) . Then I asked him what would he do if she was his dog? His answer was that he had the facility to take care of her and he would be able to do so, course being a veterinarian I guess my question was a bit silly but I wanted to know his honest opinion, would you put her through what she is going to have to go through? He said, she will recover from this, it's going to be a few bad weeks (the folks in Ft. Wayne had already told us it would take at least all summer for this wound to heal) but she will recover. That made me relax a bit. My original feeling that no bones had been hit, no organs and no major arteries, she was still the healthy old gal she had been before she had been shot, she just had a big hole where her butt used to be, I couldn't even consider putting her down. Money or no money I would find a way to take car of the vet bills and allow my furry companion to live out her life as originally intended before some crazy farmer felt he could end it for her early.
Dr. Zimmer asked us to leave Abby there, he would take a closer look and let us know what he thought could be done. We took a couple pictures for evidence sake, I asked him if I could leave my camera so they could get some pictures of the wound, it was hard to really get the full impact with the plastic guard thing over it. "No, no, don't leave your camera, I'll take pictures for you with my digital camera." So we patted Abby and left her at Pokagon Veterinary Hospital. I was starting to feel better, things were going to be fine. I knew that even if Dr. Zimmer's fees were as much or more than in the city, Abby was closer to home and still in very capable hands.
I pulled into Dr. Zimmer's just a few minutes after 9, Harry pulled in just a minute or two later. Abby got out of the car with one of those big plastic "lamp shade" collars (I guess the technical name is e-collar, at least that is how it was itemized on the bill) and a plastic guard "buttoned" to her nonexistent butt. I'm going to show you a picture of it and it's pretty ugly so be ready. ( 'Course there will be uglier pictures before we are done but you'll be able to see the amazing progress that has been made by Dr. Zimmer with this horrific wound.) My heart went out to her, it was the first time I'd seen her since we left her in Ft. Wayne on Saturday, she was moving slow but you could tell she was happy to see me. Her tail was waging. I had to wonder how she could even think about waging her tail. I would have thought it would really hurt but I guess I'm not to up on the anatomy of a dog, at least not what muscles do what, because I would have thought that the muscles that control her tail were gone considering the size of the hole on her back side.
It's kind of blurry to me right now but I'm pretty sure that it was Susie that greeted us and show us directly to an examination room. I will never, ever forget the look on Dr. Zimmer's face when he stepped into that room and took his first look at Abby, it was a holy crap look if I have ever seen one. A wow or woe or something like that involuntarily came out of his mouth and he kind of stepped back and just looked at it for what seemed like a few minutes at least.
Dr. Zimmer sat down in a chair in the corner and looked at us and said what would you do if I told you to turn around and take her back to Ft. Wayne. I said "well, I guess if that is what you told me to do that is what I would have to do, but I'd rather not." He had also reminded me that she had been getting very good care there. I told him I knew that but I had heard good things about him and he was closer to home and I thought he might not be quite as expensive (not that his care was of any lessor quality, just that things usually do cost more in the city than they do in the smaller rural areas) . Then I asked him what would he do if she was his dog? His answer was that he had the facility to take care of her and he would be able to do so, course being a veterinarian I guess my question was a bit silly but I wanted to know his honest opinion, would you put her through what she is going to have to go through? He said, she will recover from this, it's going to be a few bad weeks (the folks in Ft. Wayne had already told us it would take at least all summer for this wound to heal) but she will recover. That made me relax a bit. My original feeling that no bones had been hit, no organs and no major arteries, she was still the healthy old gal she had been before she had been shot, she just had a big hole where her butt used to be, I couldn't even consider putting her down. Money or no money I would find a way to take car of the vet bills and allow my furry companion to live out her life as originally intended before some crazy farmer felt he could end it for her early.
Dr. Zimmer asked us to leave Abby there, he would take a closer look and let us know what he thought could be done. We took a couple pictures for evidence sake, I asked him if I could leave my camera so they could get some pictures of the wound, it was hard to really get the full impact with the plastic guard thing over it. "No, no, don't leave your camera, I'll take pictures for you with my digital camera." So we patted Abby and left her at Pokagon Veterinary Hospital. I was starting to feel better, things were going to be fine. I knew that even if Dr. Zimmer's fees were as much or more than in the city, Abby was closer to home and still in very capable hands.
Friday, June 27, 2008
#3 - And the Surgeon says....
Monday, the 9th of June 2008. The surgeon at the Ft. Wayne Veterinary Emergency Hospital finishes his rounds usually about 10 am so we had to wait until after ten to find out what their recommendation is going to be. I finally was able to pick up the phone and call. The folks down there are very nice and demonstrate real concern when they talk to you. It's nice to know we've got those kind of people taking care of our family member. I can't even tell you the name of the doctor that came to phone, I just wasn't worried about that part, what I was worried about was, is my dog was going to recover from this horrible wound.
The doctor told me that they were treating it with a 'sugar' bandage. The sugar is suppose to bring the white blood cells to the surface which promotes healing. They felt this was the best treatment after cleaning it and trimming off the dead tissue. They wanted to continue this treatment for another few days then attempt surgery to close the wound on Friday. (I couldn't imagine how the would possibly be able to close such a huge opening, there was't any skin to cover it! ) They worked up an estimate on the charges. (cringe) $2200.00! I think I held my breath for a few minutes after that until I could feel the blood returning to my face. We were going to have to find an alternative plan. I knew her care there was good but she was 45 minutes away and just getting there and back was 100 miles, with gas prices the way they are and actually the shape our poor little car is in it wasn't even convenient to go see her not to mention coming up with that kind of money. For the first time since the shooting I was faced with the reality of the question, "am I going to have to put her down because I don't have any money?" What a heart wrenching thought that was.
I decided to call some of the local veterinarians to see if any of them would take on Abby's care. I knew it would still not be a "cheap" endeavor but maybe a bit less up here rather than at the fancy hospital in Ft. Wayne. I called the vel she had seen off and on over the years for regular doggy care I was told that he didn't do that kind of surgery. He had looked at her file which had been faxed to him from the Ft. Wayne hospital, it looked more like reconstructive and it was more than he wanted to take on. I appreciated his honesty and asked about another vet in the area that I had heard dealt with larger animals, I was told that the vet I was asking about did do more complicated things and I might want to call him. That was the seed that was planted which led me to The Pokagon Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Matt Zimmer, his wife Susie and their very caring and capable staff.
I spoke with Susie and explained Abby's condition, she asked me to have Ft. Wayne fax her chart so we did that. She said the Dr. would take a look and they would let us know. Later that day I received a call back from Susie, she told me the Dr. would like to see Abby so he could assess her wound. It was agreed that Harry would go to Ft. Wayne and pick Abby up the following morning bringing her to the Pokagon Veterinary Hospital. We called Ft. Wayne and made the arrangements.
The doctor told me that they were treating it with a 'sugar' bandage. The sugar is suppose to bring the white blood cells to the surface which promotes healing. They felt this was the best treatment after cleaning it and trimming off the dead tissue. They wanted to continue this treatment for another few days then attempt surgery to close the wound on Friday. (I couldn't imagine how the would possibly be able to close such a huge opening, there was't any skin to cover it! ) They worked up an estimate on the charges. (cringe) $2200.00! I think I held my breath for a few minutes after that until I could feel the blood returning to my face. We were going to have to find an alternative plan. I knew her care there was good but she was 45 minutes away and just getting there and back was 100 miles, with gas prices the way they are and actually the shape our poor little car is in it wasn't even convenient to go see her not to mention coming up with that kind of money. For the first time since the shooting I was faced with the reality of the question, "am I going to have to put her down because I don't have any money?" What a heart wrenching thought that was.
I decided to call some of the local veterinarians to see if any of them would take on Abby's care. I knew it would still not be a "cheap" endeavor but maybe a bit less up here rather than at the fancy hospital in Ft. Wayne. I called the vel she had seen off and on over the years for regular doggy care I was told that he didn't do that kind of surgery. He had looked at her file which had been faxed to him from the Ft. Wayne hospital, it looked more like reconstructive and it was more than he wanted to take on. I appreciated his honesty and asked about another vet in the area that I had heard dealt with larger animals, I was told that the vet I was asking about did do more complicated things and I might want to call him. That was the seed that was planted which led me to The Pokagon Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Matt Zimmer, his wife Susie and their very caring and capable staff.
I spoke with Susie and explained Abby's condition, she asked me to have Ft. Wayne fax her chart so we did that. She said the Dr. would take a look and they would let us know. Later that day I received a call back from Susie, she told me the Dr. would like to see Abby so he could assess her wound. It was agreed that Harry would go to Ft. Wayne and pick Abby up the following morning bringing her to the Pokagon Veterinary Hospital. We called Ft. Wayne and made the arrangements.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
#2 June 8th - we talk to the sheriff
Once we were home from the veterinary hospital the evening of June 7, 2008, I picked up the phone and called the sheriff's department of the county in Michigan where this had happened. An officer answered the phone and I said, "can someone just shoot your dog?" The answer was, "well, no, it's not legal to just shoot a dog, what happened?" So I told the officer on the other end of the phone the story I just told you. She said, "give me your name and number and I will have someone call you back". True to her word, a while later the phone rang and it was a Sergeant with the sheriff's department. She took my statement and informed me that it didn't matter if Harry had permission to be there or not, didn't matter if it was private property or not, didn't matter if the land was posted or not, it is a felony in the state of Michigan to shoot someone's dog. (It's also a felony in Indiana, but since it all happened in Michigan, it was the Michigan law that mattered.) The Sergeant asked to talk to Harry. Harry got on the phone and answered her questions and we agreed to meet the Sergeant at the little quarry the next day. Ok, now someone was going to have to pay for what he did to our dog. I was still miserable but at least I knew there would be consequences.
In the mean time poor Wiley couldn't understand where Abby had disappeared to. Wiley has always followed Abby's lead. He won't even take a cookie from your hand unless Abby has already taken hers. Poor puppy was really moping. He wouldn't eat and wouldn't go out he just laid there looking sad. Topaz tried to comfort him by doing his usual rubbing his face all over Wiley's face and licking his eyes, but Wiley just turned away from the sympathetic cat. Things were going to be different from now on.
Now it's Sunday, June 8th, I even skipped church because I knew I wouldn't be home in time to go with Harry to meet the Sergeant, I had, after all, been the one to call her in the first place so I really did have to be there. We had been instructed to meet her at the entrance to the quarry, which was fine by me, no way did I want to go on that property without law enforcement present.
We got there a bit early and just sat in our car at the edge of the road. A couple pick up trucks went by but none were the truck Harry had seen the day before. Finally a sheriff's car comes around the corner. She was here.
We followed the Sergeant into the quarry, drove around to where Harry had been parked that day and stopped. I stayed in the car but Harry got out and showed the Sergeant where he had been, where Abby had been and where the shots had come from. As he was showing her two more sheriff's cars pulled in. One was K9 unit. The office of the K9 unit came right over to me and asked me how our dog was doing, I told him that she was going to make it but it would be a long healing process.
Once they had determined where everyone had been one of the office's left and came back a few minutes later with a man. He looked very much like the driver of one of the trucks that had passed us while we were waiting at the side of the road for the Sergeant to arrive. They asked Harry if this was the man he had spoken to, Harry said no, he had never met this person before, the man agreed that he had never met Harry either but that it was his father that owned the land. After some discussion they determined that it was probably this man's younger brother that Harry had spoken with. They finished their discussion and the man left. The Sergeant told us that it was out of our hands now, the sheriff's department would take it from here, and we could leave.
As all this was taking place, Abby was still at the hospital in Ft. Wayne. We called a number of times and they said they were keeping her on pain pills and antibiotics until the surgeon could assess her situation on Monday, that she was doing fine and able to walk and eat. She was even wagging her tail.
Poor WIley just didn't know what to think without Abby around. She had always been there for him. We decided to get Wiley about four and half years ago. Abby was getting fat, lazy and bored. She didn't even want to go out in the back yard anymore, so we decided to go to our local humane shelter (where I had found her about four years ealier) to find her a friend. As we walked through the shelter that day so many years ago, all the dogs were barking and jumping up and making their usual "pick me, pick me" attempts, all, that is, but one. There was one very pretty golden retriever pup that was just laying in his cage looking up at us with warm brown eyes. He seemed so calm and quiet. "That one", we said. The lady that was showing us through the shelter said, "are you sure you want that one?" We said, "yes, why?" "Well", she said, "he's about seven months old and when he got here about four months ago we found him at the bottom of the drive way in a burlap sack, he had been badly beaten, or maybe hit by a car." Well, that was enough for us, poor baby needed a good home with loving people. We decided to bring Abby to the shelter to meet this new guy and make sure that they would get along before we took him home.
The next day we took Abby to meet Wiley. He pretty much freaked out when I tried to take him out of his cage, but after I caught up with him, I was able to calm him down and take him into the other room where Abby was waiting. They hit it off wonderfully, both got into the "play stance", you know, butt up in the air, front feet out as far as they can go. It was so cute to watch them play. The shelter people were very happy with Wiley's response to us and Abby, he had found his new family. We took them home and it took no time at all for Wiley to warm up to all of us. We did notice, however, that Wiley doesn't trust just anyone and it takes him much longer to get to know men than women. He's frightened of men with hats especially. Poor boy, we decided it was probably a man that wore a ball cap that had beat him and left him in the drive of the shelter. He's been happily adjusted since joining our family but has always looked to Abby for direction. Where she goes, he follows, he waits for her to eat before he does, waits for her to take her cookie before he will accept his. Not having her home has been very depressing for him, even Topaz doesn't seem to cheer him up and he and Topaz have a very special relationship, but then, that is another story.
In the mean time poor Wiley couldn't understand where Abby had disappeared to. Wiley has always followed Abby's lead. He won't even take a cookie from your hand unless Abby has already taken hers. Poor puppy was really moping. He wouldn't eat and wouldn't go out he just laid there looking sad. Topaz tried to comfort him by doing his usual rubbing his face all over Wiley's face and licking his eyes, but Wiley just turned away from the sympathetic cat. Things were going to be different from now on.
Now it's Sunday, June 8th, I even skipped church because I knew I wouldn't be home in time to go with Harry to meet the Sergeant, I had, after all, been the one to call her in the first place so I really did have to be there. We had been instructed to meet her at the entrance to the quarry, which was fine by me, no way did I want to go on that property without law enforcement present.
We got there a bit early and just sat in our car at the edge of the road. A couple pick up trucks went by but none were the truck Harry had seen the day before. Finally a sheriff's car comes around the corner. She was here.
We followed the Sergeant into the quarry, drove around to where Harry had been parked that day and stopped. I stayed in the car but Harry got out and showed the Sergeant where he had been, where Abby had been and where the shots had come from. As he was showing her two more sheriff's cars pulled in. One was K9 unit. The office of the K9 unit came right over to me and asked me how our dog was doing, I told him that she was going to make it but it would be a long healing process.
Once they had determined where everyone had been one of the office's left and came back a few minutes later with a man. He looked very much like the driver of one of the trucks that had passed us while we were waiting at the side of the road for the Sergeant to arrive. They asked Harry if this was the man he had spoken to, Harry said no, he had never met this person before, the man agreed that he had never met Harry either but that it was his father that owned the land. After some discussion they determined that it was probably this man's younger brother that Harry had spoken with. They finished their discussion and the man left. The Sergeant told us that it was out of our hands now, the sheriff's department would take it from here, and we could leave.
As all this was taking place, Abby was still at the hospital in Ft. Wayne. We called a number of times and they said they were keeping her on pain pills and antibiotics until the surgeon could assess her situation on Monday, that she was doing fine and able to walk and eat. She was even wagging her tail.
Poor WIley just didn't know what to think without Abby around. She had always been there for him. We decided to get Wiley about four and half years ago. Abby was getting fat, lazy and bored. She didn't even want to go out in the back yard anymore, so we decided to go to our local humane shelter (where I had found her about four years ealier) to find her a friend. As we walked through the shelter that day so many years ago, all the dogs were barking and jumping up and making their usual "pick me, pick me" attempts, all, that is, but one. There was one very pretty golden retriever pup that was just laying in his cage looking up at us with warm brown eyes. He seemed so calm and quiet. "That one", we said. The lady that was showing us through the shelter said, "are you sure you want that one?" We said, "yes, why?" "Well", she said, "he's about seven months old and when he got here about four months ago we found him at the bottom of the drive way in a burlap sack, he had been badly beaten, or maybe hit by a car." Well, that was enough for us, poor baby needed a good home with loving people. We decided to bring Abby to the shelter to meet this new guy and make sure that they would get along before we took him home.
The next day we took Abby to meet Wiley. He pretty much freaked out when I tried to take him out of his cage, but after I caught up with him, I was able to calm him down and take him into the other room where Abby was waiting. They hit it off wonderfully, both got into the "play stance", you know, butt up in the air, front feet out as far as they can go. It was so cute to watch them play. The shelter people were very happy with Wiley's response to us and Abby, he had found his new family. We took them home and it took no time at all for Wiley to warm up to all of us. We did notice, however, that Wiley doesn't trust just anyone and it takes him much longer to get to know men than women. He's frightened of men with hats especially. Poor boy, we decided it was probably a man that wore a ball cap that had beat him and left him in the drive of the shelter. He's been happily adjusted since joining our family but has always looked to Abby for direction. Where she goes, he follows, he waits for her to eat before he does, waits for her to take her cookie before he will accept his. Not having her home has been very depressing for him, even Topaz doesn't seem to cheer him up and he and Topaz have a very special relationship, but then, that is another story.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
#1 Abby's Been Shot!
On June 7, 2008 Abby, an eight and a half year old black Lab mix was shot with a 30/30 rifle from about 100 yards away. While Abby is surviving the wound, it has been a painful, emotional, expensive ordeal and our goal is to bring awareness to the general populace and set up some kind of financial support for pet parents that find themselves in a similar situation. It is absolutely terrible to have to decide if your pet should live or die simply because the money needed to get them medical treatment is not available. Here's a little history and what happened that fateful day.
We live in a small town in the north east corner of Indiana. Our family is Harry, artist and rock enthusiast, Liz (your author), Abby, eight and a half year old black lab mix, Wiley, five year old golden retriever mix, Topaz, four year old kitty and Jasper, four year old kitty, Travis, part time resident and my 21 year old son and Joe, Travis' life long friend. Our house is a small ranch style home on a full basement, the boys, Trav and Joe, have their living quarters in the basement, the rest of us pretty much stay upstairs. We have a fenced in back yard and a front yard facing the street.
Abby and Wiley have full rein of the house and the back yard but must be tied if they are in the front yard. They are both 100 pound dogs and although very sweet and fairly well trained still a bit much for me to walk (I'll tell you about the flying lesson Abby gave me later on) with a leash, so Harry usually takes them out to different places to run. Being a rock collector (and I do mean collector, we have tons of rocks in and around the house that Harry has brought home one rock at a time) Harry's favorite spots are old non working quarries. We take "Sunday drives" and have happened upon a few of these old quarries. One quarry, in particular, is just over the Michigan state line. It's a small, quiet place with a few woods along the rim, a small pond full of frogs, just off a dirt road. There are no signs posted anywhere. Harry went there a few times to look around and see if there were any cool rocks, one day there were some kids on four wheelers, he asked them who owned the land so he could get permission to be there and take our dogs for a run. Abby and Wiley were with him in the car. The kids said it wouldn't be a problem and directed him to a house just up the road. Harry went to the house, the lady that answered his knock said her boyfriend was down the road painting a truck, that Harry could go there and ask him for permission. That's exactly what he did.
There were two men in the pole barn type garage painting a truck. One of the men, the owner of the truck recognized Harry, he has seen his artwork and was familiar with his name. The other claimed to be the owner of the land. Harry asked if it would be ok for him to let the dogs run in the quarry and for him to do a little rock hunting. The man said sure, it wouldn't be a problem and after a little more conversation about the painting they parted company. Harry took the dogs back to the quarry to run a bit then went home.
Harry doesn't usually frequent the same place too often in a month's time or longer, so it's not like he goes there every weekend. He likes to let the rain clean off the rocks and would rather go to different places so he can see the change that nature and man affords. For instance, if a land is plowed there is usually a new crop of rocks that come to the top, after a number of rains you can get a pretty good idea of what is there so that's how Harry plans his rock hunting. Many of the areas he goes to are plowed fire breaks, no one cares if he picks up rocks in those areas. When Harry finds a place that is privately owned he finds out who owns the property and gets permission to go there, he always tells them he likes to pick up a few rocks and let the dogs have a run. Our car is just a small Pontiac sunfire so it's not like you can put very many rocks in it after Harry and the dogs are already there, that gives you an idea of the amount of rocks Harry might take at any given time.
So on Saturday, June 7, 2008 Harry, Abby and Wiley get out of the car in the little abandoned quarry just over the Michigan line. They are there for about ten minutes when Harry hears the distinct sound of a high powered rifle. He jumps up and down and starts screaming "DON'T SHOOT!! DON'T SHOOT!!!" at the same time he's trying to get the dogs back to the car. He was about 40 yards away from Abby when he heard another shot, saw a mass of fat and flesh fly off her backside, heard her yelp and saw her go down. Still screaming "DON'T SHOOT!" he covers the distance between himself and Abby and manages to get her to the car. Wiley, true to his name has avoided being hit, although he was also shot at. With both dogs in the car Harry yells at the man, "you didn't have to shoot her, I have permission from the owner to be here." The man says to Harry, "Well, you didn't talk to me and I own this land, I shoot every dog I see come onto my land." Harry yelled back, "you could have had me arrested for trespassing if you wanted but you didn't have to shoot my dog." The man said something about some time in the past some girl getting attacked by dogs, but Harry's concern at that very moment was Abby so he drove away.
It was early afternoon as he sped back into town, first to one veterinary then to another, they were both closed. He took Abby home and came to get me, I was visiting with a friend Sandy, at her store up town. I'll never forget him walking in the door, "bad news babe, Abby's been shot." It still bring tears to my eyes as I type the words. Oh my poor baby, the loyal puppy dog that has lain at my feet for the past eight years has been shot. Harry said, "she's still alive but she's hurt really bad and I can't find an open vet." So Sandy got on the phone and Harry and I got in the car, went back to the house to get Abby and get her some help.
One of Abby's favorite places to lay in the house is at the bottom of the basement stairs, it's cool and dark down there. I looked for her and found her there. I ran down the stairs and couldn't believe my eyes Abby's butt was literally shot off. There was a big gaping hole where her once over weight rear end used to be. Miraculously, there was no damage to bone, organ or artery it was a massive flesh wound. Abby was able to stand but couldn't go back up the stairs, the boys were being lazy and sleeping in their room when I screamed "help us carry Abby up the stairs, she's been shot!" Travis jumped out of his sleep and helped Harry carry the poor dog up the stairs and into the car. The phone rang, it was Sandy, she had called every vet in the area but they were all closed, they all said in case of an emergency to call the Ft. Wayne Emergency Veterinary Hospital. I did. I told them on the phone what had happened and they said they would be ready for us. It's a 45 minute drive to Ft. Wayne from where we live. Harry said "go ahead and speed." I did.
The folks at Ft. Wayne were very kind and understanding, they took Abby in, first weighing her. She weighed in at 95 pounds, 10 pounds of flesh had been shot off of her! They assessed the situation, we waited. They told us it was a huge flesh wound, that she would have to stay there and on Monday, when the surgeon came in they would be able to give us a better idea of what could be done. They gave us an estimate on her care for the next few days, it was going to be around $1100.00.
Now this is where the tough stuff starts. I always though people that spend thousands of dollars on their pets were crazy! How can you justify spending that kind of money on an animal. Well, I can tell you now that kind of thinking is just plan wrong! She may be an animal but you know, she's a member of my family, how could I not spend the money? Even if I had to beg, borrow or steal I had to save my furry family member. Decision made, we'd get the money somehow! We left the vets' office, went to an ATM cleaned out what little we had left and took it back to the vet. We made our down payment of $500.00. Abby was going to be ok, it was going to be a long healing process but she would make it.
So that's the beginning, I'll be keeping you posted on the progress from here and I'll be telling little tales of Abby and our furry family. We are working on getting The Abby Fund created, but in the mean time, anyone loving the fur bearing buddies that care to donate to help Abby and others like her can send donations directly to Pokagon Veterinary Hospital, 2520 US HWY 20, Angola, IN 46703 Attn: Abby's Fund. Your help is greatly appreciated by our little family and all those furry friends that need medical help and cannot afford it.I'll be posting pictures and more of the story soon.
We live in a small town in the north east corner of Indiana. Our family is Harry, artist and rock enthusiast, Liz (your author), Abby, eight and a half year old black lab mix, Wiley, five year old golden retriever mix, Topaz, four year old kitty and Jasper, four year old kitty, Travis, part time resident and my 21 year old son and Joe, Travis' life long friend. Our house is a small ranch style home on a full basement, the boys, Trav and Joe, have their living quarters in the basement, the rest of us pretty much stay upstairs. We have a fenced in back yard and a front yard facing the street.
Abby and Wiley have full rein of the house and the back yard but must be tied if they are in the front yard. They are both 100 pound dogs and although very sweet and fairly well trained still a bit much for me to walk (I'll tell you about the flying lesson Abby gave me later on) with a leash, so Harry usually takes them out to different places to run. Being a rock collector (and I do mean collector, we have tons of rocks in and around the house that Harry has brought home one rock at a time) Harry's favorite spots are old non working quarries. We take "Sunday drives" and have happened upon a few of these old quarries. One quarry, in particular, is just over the Michigan state line. It's a small, quiet place with a few woods along the rim, a small pond full of frogs, just off a dirt road. There are no signs posted anywhere. Harry went there a few times to look around and see if there were any cool rocks, one day there were some kids on four wheelers, he asked them who owned the land so he could get permission to be there and take our dogs for a run. Abby and Wiley were with him in the car. The kids said it wouldn't be a problem and directed him to a house just up the road. Harry went to the house, the lady that answered his knock said her boyfriend was down the road painting a truck, that Harry could go there and ask him for permission. That's exactly what he did.
There were two men in the pole barn type garage painting a truck. One of the men, the owner of the truck recognized Harry, he has seen his artwork and was familiar with his name. The other claimed to be the owner of the land. Harry asked if it would be ok for him to let the dogs run in the quarry and for him to do a little rock hunting. The man said sure, it wouldn't be a problem and after a little more conversation about the painting they parted company. Harry took the dogs back to the quarry to run a bit then went home.
Harry doesn't usually frequent the same place too often in a month's time or longer, so it's not like he goes there every weekend. He likes to let the rain clean off the rocks and would rather go to different places so he can see the change that nature and man affords. For instance, if a land is plowed there is usually a new crop of rocks that come to the top, after a number of rains you can get a pretty good idea of what is there so that's how Harry plans his rock hunting. Many of the areas he goes to are plowed fire breaks, no one cares if he picks up rocks in those areas. When Harry finds a place that is privately owned he finds out who owns the property and gets permission to go there, he always tells them he likes to pick up a few rocks and let the dogs have a run. Our car is just a small Pontiac sunfire so it's not like you can put very many rocks in it after Harry and the dogs are already there, that gives you an idea of the amount of rocks Harry might take at any given time.
So on Saturday, June 7, 2008 Harry, Abby and Wiley get out of the car in the little abandoned quarry just over the Michigan line. They are there for about ten minutes when Harry hears the distinct sound of a high powered rifle. He jumps up and down and starts screaming "DON'T SHOOT!! DON'T SHOOT!!!" at the same time he's trying to get the dogs back to the car. He was about 40 yards away from Abby when he heard another shot, saw a mass of fat and flesh fly off her backside, heard her yelp and saw her go down. Still screaming "DON'T SHOOT!" he covers the distance between himself and Abby and manages to get her to the car. Wiley, true to his name has avoided being hit, although he was also shot at. With both dogs in the car Harry yells at the man, "you didn't have to shoot her, I have permission from the owner to be here." The man says to Harry, "Well, you didn't talk to me and I own this land, I shoot every dog I see come onto my land." Harry yelled back, "you could have had me arrested for trespassing if you wanted but you didn't have to shoot my dog." The man said something about some time in the past some girl getting attacked by dogs, but Harry's concern at that very moment was Abby so he drove away.
It was early afternoon as he sped back into town, first to one veterinary then to another, they were both closed. He took Abby home and came to get me, I was visiting with a friend Sandy, at her store up town. I'll never forget him walking in the door, "bad news babe, Abby's been shot." It still bring tears to my eyes as I type the words. Oh my poor baby, the loyal puppy dog that has lain at my feet for the past eight years has been shot. Harry said, "she's still alive but she's hurt really bad and I can't find an open vet." So Sandy got on the phone and Harry and I got in the car, went back to the house to get Abby and get her some help.
One of Abby's favorite places to lay in the house is at the bottom of the basement stairs, it's cool and dark down there. I looked for her and found her there. I ran down the stairs and couldn't believe my eyes Abby's butt was literally shot off. There was a big gaping hole where her once over weight rear end used to be. Miraculously, there was no damage to bone, organ or artery it was a massive flesh wound. Abby was able to stand but couldn't go back up the stairs, the boys were being lazy and sleeping in their room when I screamed "help us carry Abby up the stairs, she's been shot!" Travis jumped out of his sleep and helped Harry carry the poor dog up the stairs and into the car. The phone rang, it was Sandy, she had called every vet in the area but they were all closed, they all said in case of an emergency to call the Ft. Wayne Emergency Veterinary Hospital. I did. I told them on the phone what had happened and they said they would be ready for us. It's a 45 minute drive to Ft. Wayne from where we live. Harry said "go ahead and speed." I did.
The folks at Ft. Wayne were very kind and understanding, they took Abby in, first weighing her. She weighed in at 95 pounds, 10 pounds of flesh had been shot off of her! They assessed the situation, we waited. They told us it was a huge flesh wound, that she would have to stay there and on Monday, when the surgeon came in they would be able to give us a better idea of what could be done. They gave us an estimate on her care for the next few days, it was going to be around $1100.00.
Now this is where the tough stuff starts. I always though people that spend thousands of dollars on their pets were crazy! How can you justify spending that kind of money on an animal. Well, I can tell you now that kind of thinking is just plan wrong! She may be an animal but you know, she's a member of my family, how could I not spend the money? Even if I had to beg, borrow or steal I had to save my furry family member. Decision made, we'd get the money somehow! We left the vets' office, went to an ATM cleaned out what little we had left and took it back to the vet. We made our down payment of $500.00. Abby was going to be ok, it was going to be a long healing process but she would make it.
So that's the beginning, I'll be keeping you posted on the progress from here and I'll be telling little tales of Abby and our furry family. We are working on getting The Abby Fund created, but in the mean time, anyone loving the fur bearing buddies that care to donate to help Abby and others like her can send donations directly to Pokagon Veterinary Hospital, 2520 US HWY 20, Angola, IN 46703 Attn: Abby's Fund. Your help is greatly appreciated by our little family and all those furry friends that need medical help and cannot afford it.I'll be posting pictures and more of the story soon.
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