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tick tock, tick tock!

Wow. I had 9 pages to catch up on. Dang work gettin in the way of my fire time has gots to stop!

Well, took the day off yesterday and took my two dogs out pheasant hunting. One is my pride and joy. I call her my baby girl dog. Her hame is Rooster. (Hence my handle on the fire)

I can explain why she's named that if anyone is interested. She's a 5 year old pure bred pointing lab and my pup is an 8 month old 1/2 llewellin setter 1/2 choclate lab. He's a very good boy too and I credit Rooster for raising him with good mannerisms and smarts. I have not had any time this summer to work with that pup or train it for bird hunting but last weekend on opener he went for the first time and was amazing. Just a natural. I couldn't be more pleased with how he works a CRP field along with my baby girl dog. Just a beautiful thing to watch.

Anyway, I hit one spot and flushed nothing but hens so decided to move on to another spot. The dogs found a deep mud hole near the truck and decided to cool off in it so now they were going to have to ride in the back. I gave it several second thoughts because I know what young dogs like to do when riding in the back of trucks. Then I thought, well he won't jump out as long as Rooster stays in.

That way of thinking has cost me dearly. I was enroute to the spot I was going to hunt. The dogs were riding fine in the back. All of a sudden I hear a YELP YELP YELP. My pup must have caught a scent and dove over the side. I was going between 35 and 40 mph. He went ass over tea cups and crawled, wounded into the ditch. I got back to him and he was crying out in pain. I managed to get him into the back seat and headed straight to the vet.

He has a dislocated right rear hip and the joint is also fractured into pieces. The vet gave me 3 options. $1,100 surgery that may or may not work. Let it heal on its own and risk him losing the use of his leg and the arthritis that will inevitably set in or put him down. Well through lots of tears, we braced the kids for the worst last night. The wife and I went to work this morning with the sick feeling in our stomachs of what we were going to have to do.

I had a long meeting this morning at work so Karen was going to have to be the one that called the vet to let him know our decision.

All through that meeting I just knew when I got out that I was going to have an email that my little buddy was gone. Sick, sick feeling.

BUT she couldn't do it! She went and got him and he is home and comfortable on his pain meds. We are no where near out of the woods but he is alive and with us! And if he can't ever hunt again so be it! He deserves the chance to heal and be a part of our family and I'm so glad that he did not get the deadly needle!

Damn Jim, That's terrible. Really sorry to hear that. Every labe we've had has taken one leap from the back of the moving truck, they only do it once. We have been lucky, never had an injured dog from it but gus our current lab certainly should have died in a spill he took once. He lept from the top of an aluminum truck toolbox behind the cab as we traveled at about 55, deep ditch too, lots of rolling.

Damn, I hope that pup heals up good & quick.

That's a rough one Rooster. Sure hope everything turns out ok.

Thanks guys. It is rough. Dave, you're right. They only do it once. Rooster did it once when she was a pup too. She didn't get hurt. Unfortuantely this one has the head of a lab and the body of a setter. Long legs and slender hips. Maybe that contributed to the break and dislocation.

Waylon's dog jumped out of his truck when he was going 60 mph down the hi-way. He just lost a bunch of hide but healed up quick and was no worse for wear. The labs are a tough breed.

I truly hope the pup (Oliver) can heal so he has function in that leg. His potential as an upland bird hunter knew no bounds. But like I said if he can lead a good life as a lap dog, he deserves that too. He didn't put himself in the back of my truck.

You got a good plan Jim.

Don't beat yourself up looking backwards like that, it doesn't help anything, just makes you feel worse.

Jim,

Sorry to hear about your pup. My dog tried the same thing and I saw what she was doing and slowed down enough to get her to stop. We are not very far from losing her now either. She's in rough shape. I had her at the vet last friday, and we have some stuff to go over about her as well. It's tough.

Thing is, didn't think it would be hard. But dang it when I was at the vet listening to her talk, I was choked up. That's been our family dog for almost 11 years. I know what's coming though...

I hope that pup heals up right Jim. Even if he doesn't get to hunt, he'll still make a great family member.

sorry to hear about your pup, my last dog Cody did it twice, within an hour. stupid dog, trying to chase antelope while out on the ranch I was working on. no idea why he did it, the first or second. luckily he wasn't hurt. got killed a year later by a car. he was the smartest dog that would sure do some dumshit sometimes

Sorry to hear about your puppy Rooster. I almost quit reading it at the YELP YELP part. There is nothing worse than making the decision to put a dog down.

Leaving for the girls Mall of America shopping trip in the morning.

Thanks everyone.

I'm sorry to hear about your dog as well Tom. Is she sick? Its funny how attached you get to those darn critters...

I was never allowed to have a dog growing up and was always taught you can't have a dog in town to be tied up because its not fair to them. So when we moved to the country, I was looking for a dog before we were even done moving in. So therefore, I have not ever had to make a decision like this before.

You really don't know how much they mean to the family until you tell your kids that their buddy might not be coming home.

Good advice my friend.

Heading to the woods with runswithscissors for the youth hunt.

laterz.

Have fun at the Mall of America Muffy!

If you get bored shopping with the ladies, you could always dawn some camo and hide in the plastic plants by one of the fountains.

Then fake draw on the larger, sweat pant wearing, female hippos coming in to the water hole. Pick a spot. A small spot and let 'er rip. Imagine the herd grunting and scattering in all directions, trampeling mimes and transvestites. Meanwhile, your quarry staggers and looks back towards the water hole. Slowly swaying back and forth. The sugar cone and giant pretzel slowly plop to the floor. You whisper she's down. YES! She's down!

Strange? Some might think so. But a good way to pass the time until the others are done sampling perfume and trying on clothes they have no intention of buying.

Good luck you two and stay safe!

Get a bigun RWS.

does it start today because of MEA weekend? it must.

Good luck RWS!

Yeah, but we're not sure with what, totally yet. She has a tick born disease that we're treating. She could possibly also have cancer, that is a worst case scenario though. We have to do some x-rays in the near future and see what else is going on. That will happen when her meds for the tic stuff run out. In a couple weeks.

Good luck to the youts on the youth hunt this weekend, and the big kids who are after the baldies.

"Excuse me? Did you say....YOUTS???

Tom, I leave you alone for an hour and you turn on a Joe Peshi movie.