I've not been there in years, actually, since we moved away from the area and my daughter took…read moreWillie with her to school in San Marcos. But I'll never forget when they saved my toy poodle, Willie. The short version is Willie was losing a dogfight, and they had to put over 180 sutures/staples while fighting infection. He was in their hospital over 2 weeks.
The story is....We lived out in the country on 30 acres, and normally when Willie was outside, he hung around us. But one day, while I was working in my garden, he quietly left my side without my noticing it. He got the notion to go check out the new neighbor dogs he'd heard barking. and walked all the way up our winding drive through yaupon and oaks to the gate of our property (about 250 yards). 3 good sized curr hounds who were bound to their property with shock collars and a low electric wire around the perimeter must have seemed like new playmates to Willie.
I was alerted that Willie was no longer to me when I heard the dogs barking wildly and Willie's shrieks of pain and terror! I ran as fast as I could towards him and as I rounded the bend I saw Willie's head in one dog's mouth, one had his butt/tail/hind legs. The third was in the middle gnashing away at Willie's belly while the other two seemed to be pulling in opposite directions. Those dogs had a good method for dealing with prey (or any dumb toy poodles that came to visit).
I was propelled by emotion to save my dog, (as just a lick of common sense would've been to find a safer way - at least grab a big stick)! Instead, I never stopped (or slowed down) running towards Willie. I charged into the pack scooping Willie in my arms in the same move, ran towards the wire with all I had and leapt over it... leaving 3 very disappointed and angry curr hounds barking over the boundary line. I kept running, looking over my shoulder to make sure we were safe. That's when I noticed Willie had bitten all the way through both of my thumbs, and still had one in his mouth. But he was covered in blood, so I kept running all the way to the cabin and burst into my husband's home office, where he was working that day, thank goodness.
He yelled for our daughter to grab some towels, and we carefully pried Willie's teeth off my thumb while holding his snout so he wouldn't try to bite again. Willie's eyes were wild in fear and he was disoriented - like he didn't know we were his family, the good guys. Gently, we wrapped him in towels, and covered his eyes.
I then handed him to my daughter, and helped her get him in a firm, safe and cozy position - hoping to slow the blood streaming out of every wound. They sped off to Boonville Animal Hospital. And I drove myself to my doctor for treatment.... I had mummy hands for 2 weeks (healed just in time for Willie's return home and continued recuperation).
With wounds as severe as Willie's, he was touch and go. I'm surprised he survived the deep tears in his gut that exposed his intestines. He looked like a 3D jigsaw puzzle with jagged scars clamped together by 180+ sutures and staples. But he made it, and eventually he got his spunk back (and mischievous compulsion to run away, but we were "on to" him and closely monitored him from that point on). Thank goodness Willie had excellent, dedicated, round the clock care by BAH, and we had another twelve years of fun with him!
