When a day goes to the dog...

[aquaoren]

As a Veterinarian, I'm confronted daily with people who lose their pets and it's never easy.
Nevertheless, you did good. You gave the family a chance for grieve and closure. Otherwise they may have believed that he is still alive and worried themself sick.

 

[serapis]

It is a good thing that you have done. It might not be the outcome they wished for but it is better to know, then question. A fish that frees itself from a hook, will swim away, never to return.

 

[detroit diver]

While the story ended well, I'm not sure solo diving under the ice was such a bright idea.

Ice diving standards ususally require 2 divers + 2 tenders+ 2 safety divers. At the minimum, you probably should have had a tender at the surface, with a line MUCH heavier than your cave line.

How tragic it would have been for the next team of divers that had to go in......

 

[Mrs.Prages]

AS a person who believes that her dogs are her kids, I think what you did was really bitter sweet. I know if it were one of my kids I would just have to know.

Thanks from all of the dog lovers.

 

[diverbrian]

While the story ended well, I'm not sure solo diving under the ice was such a bright idea.

Ice diving standards ususally require 2 divers + 2 tenders+ 2 safety divers. At the minimum, you probably should have had a tender at the surface, with a line MUCH heavier than your cave line.

How tragic it would have been for the next team of divers that had to go in......

I considered that. If this would have been more open water, I would have done that. I had two main safety factors that I was counting on. One was that I had redundancy in my doubles. Two was that with 200 cubic ft. of air on my back, I had enough gas to last for hours (literally) at eight ft. No deco stops from those depths either. Add in the fact that narcosis is a non-issue as well. Knowing that led to another safety factor... my ability to stay calm on the couple of entanglements that I did run into. I had plenty of time to work with.

This pond was small enough and shallow enough that while I was concerned, I wasn't likely to need a tender for this purpose. (I did get one offer, but she was from the Detrot area and that is about a three hour drive up here one way.)

So, I weighed the risk and took what I considered to be acceptable risk. I would have judged the risk differently if there would have been the possibility of getting blown into "bigger water" or if I had the possiblility of using up all of my gas in less than an afternoon. No, this is not recommended for everyone. Heck, I wouldn't suggest it for most. If I had a great buddy in the area, we would have done this as a team. But, for the people involved on this day in this circumstance, I feel that we did as well as we could have. But, there is a reason that I was using full tech gear. I did NOT forget that this was an overhead.

My two Labradors are my "children" as well. That is another reason that I wasn't going to back out.

PS, the property owner was topside the whole time. He said that was interested in the more well lit areas of the ice, because he could track my bubbles, LOL.

 

[diverbrian]

AS a person who believes that her dogs are her kids, I think what you did was really bitter sweet. I know if it were one of my kids I would just have to know.

Thanks from all of the dog lovers.

I've been meaning to say that they look spoiled like all of our pets should be . I looked at the profile when you posted about the wrecking crew meet and greet.

 

[Mrs.Prages]

CHeck out my last post on mixing water mud and husky, if you want to see really spoiled.

 

[whitedragon13]

That was really nice of you to do. Somewhat off-topic, did you know the US spends money recovering the bodies of MIAs and is (I believe) the only country in the world to do so?
In my last job, we supported the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command, whose job it is to find, recover, and identify missing soldiers with the sole purpose of providing closure to families. They are amazingly successful.
While losing a dog isn't exactly the same as losing your husband/son/brother, I'd sure want the closure for my two dogs.

 

[diverbrian]

I was aware that we spent money to do so. I was not aware that the US is the only country to spend money on POW/MIA recoveries. It is our military tradition to recover our dead from combat if possible though.

I doubt that they would have recovered mine if I had died in combat (if we had been involved in combat). A submarine recovery is a little more dangerous than letting the wreck site as a grave marker. I was in the engine room, which tends to be the last part of the crew evacuated.

I was reading Shadow Divers again and reflected on how those German familes must have felt and the crew that couldn't be with their loved ones when they passed on in a foreign country. The divers there did the right thing in identifying that submarine as well.

Yep, I have to agree that a dog is not same as a person. But, I also feel that they serve much the same purpose to me as my other friends. They are also as close as I get to having children right now.

As I have more than one pet, I like to have the body for another reason. The pets need to know that their comrade around the house is no alive. Pets grieve, too!