Saturday afternoon winds kept me indoors when Lilly and I returned from our usual round of errands and in-town walk. It was warm, enough, however for the pups to poke around outside alone. I left the tailgate down and Lilly’s crate open since she enjoys sitting up high and watching the world go by in our little valley. Just before dinnertime, Ginko came to the door and asked to come in, but he was alone. I assumed Lilly slept happily in her crate. I was wrong.
Ginko and I walked out to the main road to get the mail. We played fetch along the way, but still no Lilly. Nothing sends her running faster than playing with Ginko. We hollered for her … Nothing. No sign.
I brought the mail inside and alerted Tom. We searched the house since she sometimes comes in and gets shut into the garage or the basement without us noticing. Nothing.
So, I redoubled my bundling and went back outside into the cold wind. I searched the back pasture, looking for her on the hills behind us. Tom ventured out front to check the creek, the pond, etc.
Typically, if Lilly decides to wander, she doesn’t go far and wiggles her way back to our fence when she hears us calling. But, it’d been at least an hour since I’d seen her out the window, so I was worried.
I called and called and called. I checked all the places she’s gotten stuck before with no luck. I was starting to panic.
I ran back inside to grab my keys to begin driving the nearby roads, when Tom came in with the news.
He’d found her. She was OK. But, you’ll never guess where she was …
Inside a trash bag.
No kidding. Tom had set a bag of trash outside the garage while working out there earlier in the day. He forgot to put it out of her reach. Apparently, the smell was enticing. Typically, however, Lilly just tears a hole in the bag, and we find trash strewn all over.
Not this time. She squeezed herself inside the tied cinch at the top, then somehow it tightened back up around her. She was stuck from about her belly forward. She simply could not get her pointy-pointy elbows back out of the tiny hole.
Tom heard something rustling. He saw her butt sticking out of the bag, bucking like a bronco. He saw her nose straining to push through the bag. She was clearly panicked. We don’t know how long she’d been stuck.
When he brought her inside, I had a good cry, from sheer relief. I’m still coming to terms with the danger. She could have suffocated herself.
You sometimes hear stories of kids locking themselves in the trunks of cars or climbing into old freezers. It kind of feels like that.
I’ve got both a non-pull harness and a sporn type harness for her and we switch off.
The chiropractor is really good at what he does and just as importantly he’s wonderful with the dogs, both of whom hate to be handled, esp. by strangers, but they tolerate his handling with very little fuss. He got that magic touch and both of them benefit a lot from him. I reward the dogs with treats while he’s working and he’s fine with that and he even gives them biscuits himself. There are plenty of well meaning people who think Cesar is great. He’s not at all for me but I can’t hold it against the chiropractor since training is outside his area of expertise.
Thanks. The grief catches me off-guard sometimes.
Yikes! I’m surprised someone in the healing profession would not know better. For me, that would taint the relationship. I’d probably find another practitioner to work on my dogs.
I saw some nice, padded martingale style slip leads at CKC. That, or some kind of harness, might be a better option for her neck issues. Poor sweetie!
So sorry about your friend. Suicide is never easy on the survivors.
Unfortunately Cesar Milan is quite popular with the general public. Our doggie chiropractor said he’d lend me a great set of DVD’s for dealing with Lola’s pulling (which is likely the main source of her neck problems). I said great until he told me it was the Dog Whisperer and he suggested I get a choke chain. Ugh. A choke chain and neck jerking on a dog with fear issues and a neck injury? Uh, no thanks.
Augh! That makes me sick.
I’ll say more about it later this week, but after one of Lilly’s loud displays someone suggested “whisper” techniques. You can imagine my reaction. I think I might print out the formal denouncement by the American Humane Association and keep copies in my car for such occasions. It includes a documented case of a dog being choked down on TV.
I digress. Sorry … it’s still bugging me.
I’m just now realizing that one reason I’m having SUCH an emotional reaction to the bag incident is that my friend who killed herself last Mother’s Day did so by suffocating herself. I’m already missing her as the one-year mark approaches, but to have this scare is more than my sensitive system can take right now.
Sadly I have a friend who ‘trained’ his dog by stuffing it in a garbage bag and leaving it for several hours.
I’m glad Lilly’s o.k., what a relief for you!