The Dog...

We closed on our house Feb. 12. Done deal. The new owners are a delightful young couple. Sadly, we lost $6,000 in the deal- didn't even break even. The bank appraiser didn't come out until 3 business days before closing and gave a low appraisel. We didn't have time to get a second opinion. So once again, we fail to prosper- after some much-needed vehicle maintenance, paying off the student loan, some bills and renting a moving truck, we have very little with which to move forward.

Yesterday morning, I was awakened when Jay came in and said in a disturbed voice, "There's a dog in our pool". I was immediately sickened at the thought of a dead dog floating in icy waters. However, the dog was still alive! Lord knows how long the poor Hound dog had been in there, she was barely keeping her head above water. She'd broken the ice into small pieces and ripped our pool liner to shreds trying to find a way out and although there is a ladder, in her panic either she didn't even see it, or she couldn't figure out how to climb out. She must have had an iron will to survive the ordeal!

Jay pulled her out and she lay shivering- half frozen, emitting this terrible moan on the deck while the kids rushed for beach towels to dry her with. I covered her & began rubbing her down, then Jay carried her into our bathroom where I stripped down and put her in a tub of warm water to begin warming her body. She had involuntary muscle spasms and still that pathetic moaning. She was too exhausted to stand or even sit, so she lay in the warm water with me holding her head and pouring the water over her. Her teats were heavy with milk and she was horribly thin. No collar. She was in such misery, her eyes rolled back in her head and her floppy ears were stiff with cold. Poor dear had probably tried to get a drink from the pool and somehow fell in. My heart sank. Somewhere out there was a litter of puppies. If she'd been away from them for any length of time, they were certainly frozen to death.

While I tended to 'Mama Dawg', Jay jumped in the car and drove all up and down our lane trying to find the owners so we could get the dog back to her pups ASAP. Nobody had any idea where she was from or wanted to claim her, but several of them said they'd seen her running around all weekend- no pups. I can't understand why anyone would dump out a mom with pups in the middle of the coldest season of the year. Was she just a stray- if so, where from and why would she leave her babies?

Took me 2 hrs to get her warmed up with heat pads & towels. I stayed by her side. Every so often she would look up at me with big brown eyes as if to thank me for what I was doing. I just fell in love! Finally she was able to stand & walk slow, but normal. I fed her a bit, let her rest and put her out so she could go find her babies and I could see where she had them hidden, but she never left the yard. A couple of hours later, I took her to a friend of ours who is a vet and dropped her off there. They are going to build her up and try to find a home for her.

It breaks my heart how people treat animals. Jay was upset by all this too. He later said he feels like that hound dog. In over his head, and drowning- only nobody is pulling him out... Now would be a good time for God to show up and do something... maybe help us find a ladder up...