Hit by Car

Receiving an afterhours call is rarely good news. My last call out was terrible news of an elderly man that had driven over his own dog when he was pulling in from work. This cute medium sized cross breed through blind excitement got too close to the car and was dragged in under the wheel. It is one of the most unfortunate situations I deal with because neither the owner nor the dog actually did anything wrong. It was just bad timing. More often than not the Hit by Car cases we see are older dogs that are often partially blind, deaf or arthritic which obviously increases the risk of them being run over. So what can you do?

Proactive Measures:

·         Train your dogs from an early age that it is not rewarding for them to bolt up the driveway at you head on. Do not reinforce this behaviour.

·         Even through your vigilant training, most dogs will still make the mistake from time to time. Who can blame them really? They are just happy you are home. Drive in slowly.

·         Do not assume your furry friend will avoid the wheels. In that excited state, especially in groups, your buddy is not thinking about the dangers.

·         If your animal is old please understand that they cannot move as quickly as they did before and may not respond with the same alertness as you are used to. We all will age, so give the old guy a chance to move out of the way at his own pace.

Reactive Measures:

·         Let’s imagine the worst has happened. First things first it is important for you to understand that even the most gentle and calm creature can turn violent when they are in pain.

·         Assess him/ her for any open wounds. Those wounds should be bandaged up to assist in slowing down the blood loss.

·         Head straight to your Vet. I can’t explain to you how frustrating it is when we come across an animal, often hours or even days later, which could have had a better prognosis if only the Owner had reacted soon enough. Internal bleeding, broken bones and hernias are not always noticeable.

One last bit of advice: Not all veterinarian practices offer an afterhours emergency contact service so please make sure you have the details of the practices that do.

Dominating Dog Fights

So I get this phone call last night from my Dad to tell me my Mom has been bitten by one of our dogs. Naturally, I got worried and scared that it might be something serious but all that heart felt and sincere concern I went ice cold when I heard why. My parents have this beautiful big old boy Alsatian that is getting on in life now. His decline is youthful exuberance has sparked a resurgence in the cheekiness of their Jack Russell cross. So, as nature intended, the two dogs had a fight for King of the Castle. My mother, without considering the situation, prods her hand in between them to separate the fight. Now while I still feel genuine concern for bite wounds I also feel like saying “Well, I told you so!”. Never, ever, try break up a fight with your hands. In the heat of the moment your quiet little munchkin is not thinking about what it bites – it just bites everything. While neutering your animals does have a large effect of their natural instinct to dominate this may not solve it entirely. We also understand that simply standing back and watching the gruesome show is not an option so what can you do? I found this article on line that has some very good pointers: 

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=1009