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.
2 comments:
Hi Liz,
I was so sorry to hear about Abby!
It's really sad that people can be so cruel! I think it's a great idea you've come up with to create a fund for veterinary emergencies, for those who cannot otherwise afford it! I've gone into debt more than once with sudden veterinary expenses for my Cats. I hope the donations pour in. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your furry family member. I'm Jennifer's friend from Scotts Valley. (Lauren)
Hi Lauren:
I remember you from many moons ago! Thanks for reading our story and passing it on and the well wishes. As with everything more people know the better.
Thanks again.
Liz
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