Horrifying experience that nearly killed my new dog

[Scuba-Jay]

I started doing rigging our horses' bridles to break, after one got a leg hung up in reins when tied to a barb wire fence and was fighting it badly. He was cutting himself and about to get hung up in the barb wire. He had completely lost it and was screaming hideously. I had to go in with a pocket knife and to cut him free. It was a close call as he pinned me against the fence also. When pinned against the fence with the horse screaming in my ear, I almost had to decide whether to go ahead and cut horse's throat. It was getting that hairy. He had two posts almost out of the ground and I was concerned he would knock us both to the ground and roll us up in the wire. I was able to cut him free. Neither of us got cut too bad; though I did have to walk home as he ran free. Then I got to do first aid to horse, me, and fence.

Back to topic, no it is not something anyone wants to go thru. Lots of people cause these situations by having dog collars too loose. I have had to cut dogs off fences where they tried to jump the fence and get their collars hung. Thats fun to trying to cut a dog loose thats doing its damndest to bite you. That was also the problem with the horse above, I did not tie him up properly.

Oh by the way for those who understand, it was a glass eyed horse. Hmmm, kinda reminds me of panicked divers though their kicks and teeth are not as strong.

Had the same experience years ago trying to seperate a horse and a barb wire fense - mine didnt turn out as well as we lost the horse.

 

[tedj01]

I'm sorry to hear that Scuba-Jay. Our horses were family members so losing a horse to me was a very sad event. We did lose cattle that tangled themselves in wire. It is a very gruesome sight. On the converse side I have seen 1600 pound steer run straight thru a barb wire fence without slowing down and not pop a single staple. Two guyse were with me and we all asked each other if that had really happened!

I still carry a knife. I know it is not PC! But I have had to use one as a tool too many times. I would have probably died that day if I had not had a knife because I would have still tried to free him. The horse may have survived. It was a close call with the knife. The knife probably would be one of the last things I would use for a weapon if the need for a weapon arose!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Wow Ber ... got a very big lump in my throat reading this .. so glad that it turned ok ... great thinking .. give em a hug for me too

Thank you, hugs and cookies when I get home! They've been getting a lot of cookies lately
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Be interesting to hear what you decide to use as I'm sure this is a timely reminder for us all!

Reading ClayJar's post reminded me I hadn't let you know what we finally decided to do. We purchased this breakaway collar with the reflective stripe for both dogs. The company was great to deal with.

I came home from work and my husband had put the collars on the dogs and I wanted to see how well they worked. I took Katie's collar off and put it on my husband's arm then twisted it a bit and managed to break, not release but actually break, the quick release. The pieces went flying and my husband was a little annoyed since he'd gone to the trouble of putting the dog tags on that collar about an hour earlier and now they had to be moved back to the old collar. I called the company the next day and she apologized profusely saying it doesn't happen often but the piece that's supposed to release can break. They sent me not one but TWO replacement collars, one for each dog.

The extra collar for Lindy turned out to be a good thing. A couple weeks after getting the collars Lindy came back from romping with Katie and she was collar-less. We searched for hours but never found the collar (we have 18 acres of woods). Hubby ordered new dog tags and we put the replacement collar on Lindy. Two days after the last of the tags came in Lindy came back without her collar again. We went out hunting for that collar and on a whim walked along our fence but in the neighbors corn field. We found the first collar in the corn field near the neighbor's part of the woods, several hundred feet from the house. My stomach did a flip when we found it because if the collar hadn't released and the dogs had gotten tangled they would have died. It would have taken us a day or more to find them because they had wandered off the property which isn't something they normally do.

We still haven't found the second collar but I really believe that collar has saved Lindy's life twice now.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Holy cow, Ber! Glad to hear that everything turned out okay. Hats off to you for your bravery, tenacity, decisiveness, and cool head.

 

[trucker girl]

PUPPIES!

Ack! I am SO glad they're okay! I hate hearing about pets getting hurt! I hate hearing about the pets that have died from the stupid petfood crap going on right now! I can't think about it! People who aren't pet-people just don't get it!

My dog has a 24-7 collar because it's in the nature of his breed to run. He'll come back... eventually. He's been loose a few times and come back unscathed but if he gets hit by a car it will crush me! He is chipped but I have a collar on him at all times with our contact info and his rabies info just in case. I use an anti-pull harness for walking.

Last summer I came home from diving (with Notso_Ken) to find that I had forgotten to take his harness off. It has a long section that hangs loose from where you tighten it around his shoulders (I can't explain very well). He had gotten his hind leg through the loop on the long section and was caught up in it. I could have killed myself for doing that- though I don't think he had been stuck in it long since he wasn't complaining and didn't limp after. It wasn't something that would have hurt him permanently but it would have made a heck of a cramp. And I don't want to think what could have happened if he'd gotten caught up on something. I felt just terrible!