Stock fencing and dogs....

[keeperscottage]

My daughter decided to walk our dogs after dark on Tuesday as I just didn’t have time to walk them during the day. For safety, we took them into a well-fenced field and my daughter parked her car in the gateway and left the headlights on full beam. All five dogs were running around quite happily and the Munsterlander and one of our two Springer “puppies” (they’re a year old now, but to us they’ll always be “the puppies”) jumped over the fence. No problem, as they are quite obedient and returned when we called. However, one of the “puppies”, Libby, as she jumped back over the post and rail with stock fencing, started screaming. We rushed over to her and she was literally dangling with one hind leg “strangled” in the stock fencing. We tried to free her but it was wrapped so tightly around her leg, we couldn’t release her. I tried to ring the farmer to ask him to come over with wire cutters, but his line was engaged. We were frantic; Libby was screaming in pain and just dangling – her front feet weren’t anywhere near the ground and she was just hanging by a hind leg. The wire was so tight, we couldn’t release her and she started biting us in sheer panic and pain. I lifted her up so she wasn’t “dangling” and my daughter managed to slacken off the wire but we couldn’t free her. In the end, I was left holding Libby whilst my daughter drove my car (we’d arrived in two cars) to get help. After about ten minutes (which seemed like hours whilst cradling an 18kg dog) she returned with a farm worker and a hacksaw. The farm worker freed the puppy (who sank to the ground, covered in blood, and proceeded to drag her leg) but my daughter was hysterical……she’d been bitten so badly that she thought she’d lose her finger! We put the dogs in my car, called a nearby friend who took my daughter to hospital while I rushed Libby to the vet. Once at the vet, it was discovered that the blood was from my daughter, not the dog! Libby’s leg was slightly swollen but the skin hadn’t been broken at all – we’d had visions of broken leg, skin shredded etc, but no, she was fine. Vets insisted I checked my own hand (I had gloves on and the blood had dried which meant I had to carefully extricate my hand which was stuck firmly inside the glove) and wash it in Hibiscrub – looked pretty nasty – and then headed to A&E 20 miles away to track down daughter and friend. Cutting a long story short, they admitted my daughter and she had surgery Wednesday morning and may need more surgery Thursday (today, as it’s past midnight now!). She has a plaster cast up to her elbow!!!!! Tendon sheath damaged, but my daughter said she’d do it all again because Libby was in such agony. Nursing staff were so concerned about pup, but doctors and surgeons basically hoped we’d “dealt with the dog”!!! When daughter explained it wasn’t an aggressive attack, they said “Oh, they all say that!” – can you believe it!! Anyway, looks as thought daughter is going to be in hospital until Monday at least which she is less than pleased about! Spoke to Hunt Master today who explained to me how the accident happened – apparently it sometimes happens to hounds (who, she said, would also bite if you went near them whilst caught in wire). Apparently, as they leap the stock fencing, they sometimes turn the top strand of wire over, trapping their leg, which is obviously what happened in this case. Like the huntsman, I think I will now carry a pair of wire cutters along with my dog whistle, just to be on the safe side! My daughter took this photo of her hand when she arrived at A&E (hope H&H don’t decide it’s unsuitable to show!). Anyway – beware of stock fencing!!!! I never imagined it could be so potentially dangerous!

 

[amandathepanda]

Ouch!! How horrible! Glad both Libby & puppy are going to be ok though. Wirecutters are one of those things you never think to carry with you until yuo hear about something nasty like that happening.

 

[piebaldsparkle]

When my horse was kept at a yard with stock fencing I stashed wire cutters either end of the field (you just never know when you'll need them). Hope your daughter hand isn't too painful.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Glad to hear Libby was okay, and hope your daughter mends as easily as possible.

And I though I know you get the doctor you get, I would probably have suggested to them to lend me some wire so I could twist it around either their dangling bits(if male) or breasts (if female) and then they could tell me if they still blamed my poor dog!!

from Sweden.

 

[Goya]

What an awful experience. <<<<<<good vibes>>>>>> sent for quick recovery of daughter and dog. Poor you, you must all have been scared witless.
I'd have done the same for my dog.

 

[k9h]

Hope your daughter heals up quickly.

Yes it can happen.
The quickest thing to do it pick the dog up & throw it back over the way it has come to free the leg up.
Plus if you walk out with a stick or there is one near by (should it happen again) offer that to the dog first & not your hand. Though I do tend to rush in!

They do make an awful noise when hung up, which you can't bame them for really. But it does make your blood go cold.

 

[fmay]

Good advice there k9h - it sounds as though you are talking from experience.

keeperscottage - I hope that your daughter's hand is OK after surgery

 

[keeperscottage]

Thanks everyone for your replies! Daughter may need further surgery tomorrow and is nil by mouth from midnight, just in case (I've four hunters to shampoo for Saturday plus three sets of Wednesday's mud encrusted tack to clean all on my own tomorrow evening - my daughter usually shampoos whilst I clean tack! - and then go onto a further job of walking two dogs, feeding the cat and sorting out three horses - in the dark and alone again......she'd better get better soon!). Left my own horses out tonight to save me some time tomorrow!

K9H, funnily enough, my daughter was only saying today that perhaps we should have thrown Libby back over the way she came, but at the time neither of us realised exactly how she was tangled up, it was only when the Master told me yesterday about hounds sometimes getting caught up the same way as poor little Libby that I understood what had happened. Being a Springer and therefore much smaller than a hound, her front feet weren't even touching the ground and she was literally just dangling there! Hope it never happens again, but I'll be better prepared if it does!

 

[k9h]

Hope your daughter's finger heals soon so you can get her grafting again! LOL!

Hind sight is a marvelous thing!
Like you said you have never seen this happen before but now it has happened should it ever happen again (hope it does not) then you will know how to respond.
Hope your dog is not to sore & gets over it quickly being a springer I am sure it has already forgotten about it even if still sore!
Plus is a hefty enough of a dag for you to hold up for the time you did!

It's the wire with 2 strands at the top that is the worst, as if they don't get enough height & place their feet on the lower strand as they go over, the two strans twist over trapping the paw. With the wire in high tension already this makes it really tight & you have no chance of parting the wire by hand so flipping them back is the quickes way to free them, even quicker than getting wire cutters out of pocket.

Hope all are feeling better soon.