The Good, the Sad, and the Unfair!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Vern’s birthday was January 10, 2014.  He turned four. That is some of the good news.  The bad news, which ended with good news, happened the day before his birthday.  On that day, like we always do, the dogs and I went walking. I opted to take them to the campground to walk and then I did something I never do.  Usually, we go home after our walk, but I decided to take them across the street to the pier where we park our boat in the warmer weather.  It is an E shaped pier and the only way off is across a little metal bridge and normally, I block access to the bridge after they cross it and let them off leash.  They can run all over the pier with wild abandon and it makes me smile to see Fudge take off down the pier with her graceful, reindeer like prance, a moment after she realizes she is off leash and free as a bird. 

Vern lops along behind her and they like to stop and taunt each other, play bow, and mix it up a little.

Yesterday, I took them to the farthest place on the pier before letting them loose and then watched them go.  Both dogs came back when called and Vern reached me first.  I was snapping shots of Fudge with Vern beside me and in the blink of an eye, Vern stepped off the pier and onto the partially iced over lake.  Never has Vern jumped off of the pier into the water. Both of my dogs wade into the water, but are not dock divers and neither will jump into the water from our boat. This was so completely unexpected and I could see it happening as if in slow motion, but I couldn’t stop him and before I knew it Vern was standing on a block of ice within feet of icy water where the lake had not frozen over. All 100 pounds of him!

At this spot, but taken a few days later!

I reacted badly. I didn’t think to yell anything sane, but the panic in my voice reached him somehow as I yelled, “oh my God, Vern, oh no,” because he froze.  The other good news was Fudge kind of froze, too.  She stayed put and did not decide to use Vern’s predicament and my rescue attempt as a diversionary tactic to make her way around me and off of the pier.   With more strength than I knew I had, I pulled Vern up onto the pier. I acted on sheer instinct, and it was only after the fact that I felt the whole weight of “what could have happened?” Vern is a big boy. He stepped down onto the ice and luckily the ice held.  A few feet away it was icy water and the water below him was very deep.  We were a long way from shore and I could never have lifted a soaking wet Vern onto the pier if he had gone into the water.  The water was far too cold for Vern to make it all the way to shore. It was far too cold for a human to jump in and help and really could have been the difference between life or death for me if I had tried. Nobody else was around to hear any cries for help. The “what ifs” could keep me up for days if I let them, but like John said he is safe and everything turned out ok in the end.  Fudge knew it was serious and was wonderful in this tough situation and once Vern was safe, I held them close and told them how much I loved them.

 

Accidents can happen in the blink of an eye.  We have done this “pier thing” lots of times and never had any kind of problem.  By now most of you have read about Max, the dog in the DRC that was tragically killed by a hunter’s stray bullet.  We live in a heavily wooded area and hunting is huge in Pennsylvania. The schools in our area close down for the first day of hunting season.  They hunt in the field right next door to our house.  It is not unusual to hear the booms of rifles all around us.  My neighbor called me this year after setting up a camera in the woods to keep track of the deer and upon review of the first pictures spotted Laurie, Fudge, and Vern walking in the field.  He asked his wife to call me and let me know it was not safe to walk there during the hunting season.  I was under the stupid assumption that no one could be dumb enough to mistake one large woman and two dogs on a leash for deer, but I was wrong. I am a city girl learning it happens all the time. Max probably played outside in that same yard lots of times with no problems and again the “what ifs” are probably haunting his remarkable foster family.  I have no answers for why Vern was safe on the ice and Max was unsafe in his own yard and I can’t help but be thankful for the one and saddened by the other.  The fate of dogs always rest on humans making the right or wrong choices and decisions and sometimes, just dumb luck is involved. 

 

I loved that show Touched by an Angel and I always loved the way it depicted God’s loving hand and his angels guiding the dead towards the light and heaven beyond. I am going to believe that Max was guided along his way that day and left this world knowing what it was like to be loved and cared for by his foster family and is now in a better place. We have all made choices in our lives that we wished we had not and we’ve all done something careless that we wished we could take back.  I don’t know what happened that day with that hunter or what he thought he was doing and I can only hope it was a mindless accident, but stories like this always make me think about timing and fate.  If only that hunter had opted to stay home that day.  If only Max had been standing one foot to the left.  And then we have Vern’s story.  Thank God I was standing right there.  Thank God the ice held.  All these thoughts could make a person go crazy and I have no answers why one story had a happy ending and one story didn’t.  It just happened that way.  As my kids used to tell me all the time, “It’s not fair!” when they felt I had doled out the wrong punishment to the wrong kid.  This time I have no smart, motherly reply back.  It really isn’t fair.  Sometimes, the world makes no sense to me.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Linda, I posted a funny one just below this one. Hope that helps :) Thank you!!

Thanks, Jenn!

[jenn D]

Oh Laurie, I'm so glad everyone is ok!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Just saw your blog Laurie and I thought great I am going to get a giggle like I usually do when I read one of your blogs!  Yikes, what a scary experience!  I am so glad you posted to give us all a reminder that  it only takes a second for something like this to happen. Glad you were all ok.  Happy belated birthday to that big silly boy Vern!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, Thank you for Vern's birthday wishes. I think if Vern had jumped, the ice would not have held. He just stepped off the pier and onto the ice. Maybe the shock and feel of the cold ice held him still as much as my voice. We were lucky!! Thank you!

Joanne, Oh Spud....you are such a joyful dog. Please don't play on the ice, Spud. Stick to balls in your back yard :) Your potential blog sounds interesting.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Pat, Thank you! I bet that was scary when Trav got into that fast-moving stream. These Doodles are causing us grey hair :) They can't run there in the summer, because all the boats are docked there. Too many people. I could just see my two flying down the pier knocking people into the water :) LOL

Lisa, Thank you! Poor Mike...I can see you pushing him in to save Daisy :) LOL

DJ, Thank you!

Sue, John wasn't there or I would have encouraged him with a push if one of us had to get in that water :) LOL

Karen, Thanks for following my blogs :) I like your Grandmother's saying. Some people in my family would say I am safe, too, under those guidelines :) LOL

Donna, Thank you!! The ice is gone, so we have been back. Now, we have to contend with goose poop. I can't seem to save Vern from that crap :)

[Pat and Traveler]

Oh, Laurie, what a terrifying experience!  I could just see it all happening, right before my horrified eyes.  Thank God you are all okay.  Smart Vern, to have stayed put, except to help you get him back on the dock.  Smart Fudge not to take off.  Smart Laurie to have acted instinctively and saved Vern.

I hadn't heard about Max, and what a sad story!  The "what ifs" really can drive you crazy.

Last summer Trav stepped off a rock into a deep, fast-moving stream and was almost swept under a log and mass of downed branches and debris.  It happened so fast!  I don't know how he managed to climb back onto the rock.  I was thinking of the "what ifs" then, just as you were with Vern and Fudge.

Do you think it would still be okay for the dogs to run on the dock in summer?  Sounds like it's a great spot, as long as there isn't ice to worry about. 

 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Laurie, why is a big question that Mom's, Dad's, friends and family have been asking for ever.

I too believe that their are Guardian Angels out there watching over us, how else could we survive tragedy? Sometime they save us and sometimes they take us home. I am so happy Vern's Angel let him stay, and like you, I am sad that Max's took him home. I like your thinking, he knew he was loved.

As I read your post I have doodle bumps as my brown fuzzy baby lays next to me...today we went to the lake to romp and play ball. We stayed far away from the water but a couple of times our hearts pounded deep when she knocked the ball closer and closer in the direction of the water. We even imagined what we would do, poor Mike knew he would be cold and wet as I chose her over him, (not really but I think that is how it seemed in our scenario, there really was no choice).

I am happy you are all safe and warm. Good Girl Fudge!

[DJ & Chance]

What a scary, scary moment with Vern on the ice.  All of DK, me included, are grateful that the three of you are safe and surround each other with love.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I have a very strong feeling someone, (John) would have been strongly encouraged to go in after Vern....And you would be in the water in a flash if you had to. So glad the ice held though.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Oh, I will do that also. Thanks, Karen