Impromptu Canine Surgery
After a day of rambling around, we returned to find a wounded dog at the home of the family friends hosting us. He had run off in the morning to points unknown, and apparently caught a few pellets of #4 buckshot from an irate neighbor. I don't know whether the dog was just exploring, or chasing chickens, or being over-exuberantly friendly, or what. In any case, I was an assistant nurse in an impromptu gunshot wound treatment.
The owners had washed the blood off the fur around the wounds, and trimmed away the fur that was in the way. We don't yet know how severe the internal wounds are, but the external wounds have been cleaned and dressed with an herbal poultice of comfrey leaves, yarrow, witch hazel, chamomile, and some tea tree essential oil, then covered with comfrey leaves, and then wrapped in a loose bandage to finish the job. Hopefully infection will be avoided, and internal wounds are not severe.
My assistance was largely offering optimistic words and the occasional extra hand, especially when lifting a large dog for easier access to wounds for those doing the cleaning and dressing. I can't take much credit for anything beyond that. The dog is now resting in the sun and hopefully on the road to recouperation.
I doubt the dog was causing trouble, but I ought to reserve judgement on that matter due to lack of information. In any case, good neighbors should try to find out whose golden retriever is running about before reaching for the 12-gauge solution unless extreme circumstances suggest otherwise.
Upvote for being a decent human being to one of our four legged friends in their moment of need.
I just can't figure out what kind of knuckledragger would shoot at a golden retriever, even if it were taking a dump on their lawn or whatever.
Thanks for being a good and mindful human being and taking care of the poor dog.
To be fair, the worst dog bite I ever received was from a golden retriever. But in that case it was a dog developing neurological issues, and this dog in this post is not like that at all. He's aggressively friendly at worst.
What a disgusting POS to shoot a dog that I can tell by looking at was up to mischievousness at worst- you shoot one of my dogs and you better soon expect a man with an AR + ACOG with a P220 for good measure to be seeking you out.
Shooting a dog for any reason is just inhumane
Unless it is presenting an immediate danger to someone, yes.
Immediate danger...
Another side of things:
I had 3 chickens earlier this year and two were shaken to death and left to die in the snow by two hunting dogs that got loose. They came back later so we got to see who did it and chase them off.
This left us with one chicken, Lee, who stood on a high deck and saw the whole thing.
Just last week another dog, it could have been a Lab, came to our high, woodsy very private property and Lee screamed. I went out and chased the dog away and Lee ran into the woods behind the house. She reappeared hours later having lost her wing feathers...a lot of them. She is no longer free ranging.
These chickens are my precious pets and the dogs who took their lives or wounded them, well, what can I say?
I would never have shot at the dogs ( don't own a gun) but I am wounded by people who let their dogs roam freely.
This dog wasn't typically a roamer though, and lives at a home with chickens. Burden of proof is on the one who claims injury, but no one registered any formal complaint. the dog had a collar, and was friendly, so an ID would not have been hard.
It is hard to imagine someone who would shoot at a friendly looking dog. The problem is with the shooter.
One could extrapolate that this guy has also been involved in road rage incidents.
I just attached my sad pet story to yours as another example of senseless killing and the subsequent pain and anger.
Oh yes of cause when you put it like that..
You are one of the best content creators on this site I commend you for standing up to evident you put hours on this post.
Cheers for the good post and much love from me..