Discovering Gold

On April 5, 2008 the greyhound hauler rolled into Missoula. Tripps, Vicki K. and I were waiting at the meeting spot eager to meet our new charges and hoping more people would show up to help us walk, load and bathe the 11 new Montana greyhounds. I was especially excited because Nitro Ducky was on the load and I could not wait to meet her. The truck rolled to a stop and soon we were unloading. Since there was only 4 of us to walk dogs we could only unload part of the dogs. Carol and I quickly stuck two girls in my van so we could go back and unload a couple more. People started to arrive to help walk dogs. As we were unloading dogs, I was blocking the door and putting on collars and Carol was busy checking her list to make sure we got the right dogs. John, the driver said he had people helping him load and the load had gotten a little mixed. This sight delay while we looked for our dogs may be the reason that one dog lived another day.

As John was looking in the crates with a flashlight I was standing by the back door and started to check the crates that I could see. The crate on the left had a big male dog who was stretched out in a classic cockroach position. Then my brain registered something was not right. His breathing seemed wrong...in fact I wasn't sure I saw any breathing. I asked, "Is this dog OK?" John started heading my way asking "What is it?". It was then that I noticed the dog's paw wedged in the top of the door to the box he was in. His leg was stretched to the limit, he was on his back and he was absolutely stuck. I pointed to the foot in horror. John raced to the door, pulled the trailer door shut to prevent any escapes and started to work on getting the dog free. I stood by the back door straining my ears when I heard a shriek. The backdoor opened and John handed me a dog, his broken kennel muzzle hanging around his neck. One look at the mangled foot and the blood. I said, "I am taking him to the vet right now! He is staying here!" John nodded in agreement and relief. Tripp's friend Teri quickly handed off the dog she was walking and helped me unload the dogs from my van. I loaded up the hurt dog and the long awaited Ducky and tore out of the parking lot on two wheels while dialing the vet on my cell phone. Leaving behind a trail of blood in the parking lot. Traffic was horrible but it gave me time to talk to the vet and tell him I was on my way with a emergency. Someone from the Idaho group called to see if the truck had left and I was able to tell her what happened and which dog I had. She looked up who he was and where he was going. His name is MNs Gold and he was going to be unloaded in Idaho with the GPA Greater Northwest and then transferring to Chinook Winds in Canada. We agreed we would work out the details later and I would keep them posted. The drive to the vet seemed to take forever!! I could hear Gold moving and then for a bit he was awfully quiet. Of course I starting wondering if he was bleeding out....about the time I was going to pullover to check him I could hear him moving again.

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Dr. Joe was in the parking lot when I pulled in. We opened the back of the van and I was relieved to see a living dog in that crate. There was blood everywhere. The beds were soaked through and Gold was covered. Gold was shocky but bright eyed. We started to wash off the blood, finding amazingly few wounds for the amount of blood. The blood was coming from a vein in the bottom of his foot which was exposed and torn. Other injuries included a side tooth which was hanging from a thin thread of flesh, pressure sore on his rump no doubt from the miles he traveled hung up, He has a rather large wound on his stifle which we cut the flap off of so it could heal. The foot actually wasn't as bad as we feared. He did chip the corner of his knuckle. The bone chip was visible in the wound so Dr. Joe plucked it out. X-rays showed no other broken bones. We gave him fluids to stabilize him and got some pain meds on board. We wrapped his foot and stifle and Joe told me to change bandages in a couple of days. Gold was exhausted and physically drained. After a nice potty break and some water he settled into my largest crate to rest.

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When I unwrapped that foot it was clear the toe was dying. Gold went back at the vet to have the outside toe removed. It was the toe that suffered the brunt of the pinch in the door. While he was out he was neutered and completely checked out. I kept in contact with Cindy of Chinook Winds via email. We decided since Gold was going to her group to be fostered that he would stay here for fostering and placement. He is now well into recovery with just a few more days to go before his stitches can be removed. I am busy today trying to design some sort of boot to allow me to boot him up and protect the foot when he goes out for potty breaks and then remove it for crate rest. Greyhound feet are really hard to keep healthy under wraps. They are thin skinned and the feet are bony. Even with cotton between the toes they are very susceptible to pressure sores when wrapped. So the sooner I can leave him unwrapped the better.

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That is the whole story about how on April 5th we discovered Gold and were able to claim him as one of our own. It was a freak accident. Somewhere along the road he jumped against that door and pushed the top of it out far enough to get his toes in there. I am sure when it happened he struggled and made a fuss but by the time I saw him he was so still I thought he was dead. He was obviously in shock when he was caught because we walked by him a number of times getting dogs in and out and he never made a peep or moved. The next stop for the hauler was Coeur d'Alene....I don't know if he would have made the trip. Through all we did to him I have been so impressed with his temperament. I hope all our rescues are as good as GOLD!!

As good as GOLD