I talked to the local veterinarian this morning, and I no longer think I was a deliberate target (personally) for this. There has been more of it going on than I was aware of. There was a dog poisoned in Etna, a town about 12 miles from me, just about a week ago. That case and mine are the first the veterinarian knows of THIS YEAR, but there was a lot of it going on all around the valley last year. Poisons of choice have been strychnine or rat poison. Could be anti-hunters, environmentalists who don’t like people taking their dogs to the mountains, someone who doesn’t like farm dogs running loose, or someone who just plain doesn’t like dogs. No suspects so far.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Talk about a bad week!
I’ve already told about the passing of old Kelly. That was on Monday. Kelly was an old dog, and it was his time to go. On Friday some miserable excuse for a human being poisoned 2 of my dogs!
Bear and Dove slept in the house with me. First thing Friday morning I turned them out in the yard to take care of business as usual. Thinking back, I remember hearing a slight scuffle around at the front of the house where my pickup and horse trailer are parked, and I yelled at them. That’s when they had to pick it up, whatever IT was. Someone had tossed a poison bait of some kind into my yard. Dove must have got the lion’s share of it, and that’s what the scuffle was about.
Thinking no more about it at the time, we went back inside and I took care of the 3 S’s and fixed breakfast. Suddenly Dove began to throw up all over the place! I ran both dogs out of the house, and once Dove had heaved up she seemed fine. Bear appeared perfectly normal. I tied the dogs outside and went back in the house to clean up the mess which took quite awhile. When I went back outside to throw everything in the garbage, I could tell from the way she was laying that Dove was dead! Bear had drank a huge amount of water and heaved it up. He is ok, and now 2 days later you would never know anything was wrong with him.
I called the Sheriff’s office and they sent a deputy out. We looked around my yard and found exactly what I expected; nothing. Of course the dogs had eaten whatever had been there. I asked the deputy if they had any similar reports, and she answered no, at least not yet. This is a rural area, and it is impossible to find a veterinarian over a weekend. First thing tomorrow (Monday) I will call the local vet’s office to see if they know of any other dog poisonings in the area. Right now I am racking my brain trying to think of anyone who could possibly hold enough of a grudge against me to do such a thing, and I come up empty. Am I the only one, or are there more dead dogs in the valley that I haven’t heard about yet. Was this a direct attack against me, for no reason that I can think of, or were they just out to kill dogs? Anyone’s dogs. If this was a deliberate attempt to kill my dogs, might they try again since they didn’t get them all. Aside from Bear, the only other dog here now is old Sadie. She was tied at the time this happened, so didn’t pick up any of the bait. Right now I am up a tree. I can’t think of anyone low enough to do this, or what their motive might have been.
Bear and Dove slept in the house with me. First thing Friday morning I turned them out in the yard to take care of business as usual. Thinking back, I remember hearing a slight scuffle around at the front of the house where my pickup and horse trailer are parked, and I yelled at them. That’s when they had to pick it up, whatever IT was. Someone had tossed a poison bait of some kind into my yard. Dove must have got the lion’s share of it, and that’s what the scuffle was about.
Thinking no more about it at the time, we went back inside and I took care of the 3 S’s and fixed breakfast. Suddenly Dove began to throw up all over the place! I ran both dogs out of the house, and once Dove had heaved up she seemed fine. Bear appeared perfectly normal. I tied the dogs outside and went back in the house to clean up the mess which took quite awhile. When I went back outside to throw everything in the garbage, I could tell from the way she was laying that Dove was dead! Bear had drank a huge amount of water and heaved it up. He is ok, and now 2 days later you would never know anything was wrong with him.
I called the Sheriff’s office and they sent a deputy out. We looked around my yard and found exactly what I expected; nothing. Of course the dogs had eaten whatever had been there. I asked the deputy if they had any similar reports, and she answered no, at least not yet. This is a rural area, and it is impossible to find a veterinarian over a weekend. First thing tomorrow (Monday) I will call the local vet’s office to see if they know of any other dog poisonings in the area. Right now I am racking my brain trying to think of anyone who could possibly hold enough of a grudge against me to do such a thing, and I come up empty. Am I the only one, or are there more dead dogs in the valley that I haven’t heard about yet. Was this a direct attack against me, for no reason that I can think of, or were they just out to kill dogs? Anyone’s dogs. If this was a deliberate attempt to kill my dogs, might they try again since they didn’t get them all. Aside from Bear, the only other dog here now is old Sadie. She was tied at the time this happened, so didn’t pick up any of the bait. Right now I am up a tree. I can’t think of anyone low enough to do this, or what their motive might have been.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Old dog down.
This photo was taken 14 years ago on Kelly's first of many trips to the mountains. He died on Monday, 2 days ago. Kelly was an Airedale, half of a team of brothers, but not littermates. Casey was his older brother by a year and a couple of months. Casey has been gone over 2 years now. Together with a good horse, they roamed the mountains with me for a good number of years, and looked up a tree at many a bear, cougar, and bobcat. They were hunting dogs in the true sense of the word! I can no more have those dogs back than I can have those years back, but I sure have a lot of good memories stored away. Rest in peace old friends. Will Rogers said it best when he said, "If dogs don't go to heaven, I want to go where they go". May we meet again sometime in a better place.
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