No good deed goes unpunished

[CMV]

Some friends lost their dog this weekend. She was quite elderly, so it didn't come as any surprise when she died. In these tough financial times they could not afford to have her cremated, and she was far too large to bury in their tiny yard so they were at a loss as to what to do with her body. We offered to bury her on our property because we live in the woods and have acres of uninhabited land at our disposal. They gladly accepted our offer. We collected her body yesterday and buried her today. The family decided to come over and have a small funeral for the dog this evening. They brought the whole family and their other dog over our house to say good bye.

As they were getting out of the car, their remaining dog slipped free... and ripped the throat out of one of my free range ducks.

The duck doesn't seem terribly wounded. She had a large piece of skin hanging from her neck and a small puncture lower down on her neck. Both easy to resolve. But she also has some sort of crush injury to her throat, which is impeding her breathing. I am pretty sure she is not going to make it. She is cleaned up, bandaged up and resting in a cage in my dining room. I am going to give her the night and hope that she's still kicking tomorrow. I think the swelling in her throat may do her in, though. She has been struggling to breathe and occasionally coughs to try to clear her throat.

Our friends are mortified. They had no idea that their dog was going to do something like that. It happened so quickly. I did not know they were going to bring their dog or else I would have been present to make sure there were no issues with the birds. As it was, I was cooking dinner, so I missed the whole thing until I had to piece the bird back together. I am obviously not going to charge them for the bird should she die, because they are in serious financial straits and cannot afford to replace the bird.

It's a lousy situation all the way around. I am so angry that they didn't take more care with their dog. They should have been watching her. They should have never let her out of the car without a leash on. They KNOW we have free-range birds. I feel like I just got punished for trying to help out some friends. It doesn't seem fair.

My poor duck.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

omygosh that is terrible! So very sorry for your duck. I truly hope she makes it.

People just don't realize how fast things can go wrong with a loose dog. When we have visitors and I insist their dog be on-leash if my chickens are out, the response is always "oh, my dog would never go after a chicken". They think because my two dogs are mellow around the chickens, theirs will be, also. Not the case. We've had some close calls.

As usual, the dog is just being a dog and the owners are just being stupidheads!

 

[BHyder1]

That is so sad for you and your poor duck that probably had no idea she was in danger! A big congrats. to you for being so kind about their dog.

 

[Imp]

I'm so sorry. I hope your duck pulls through.

Imp

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Well first of all it sounds like someone has seen the Hit "wicked". Now moving on. I applaud u for allowing the burial ground. I am sure they didn't mean for your duck to almost join him, but they need 2 realize the actions of that dog is their responsibility and there r ways to rectify it...example cleaning out the duck/ hen houses etc...lots of chores come to mind.

 

[FlyRobinFly]

Sorry about your duck, I hope she makes it!

That was very generous of you to offer them the burial and not charge them for your duck; hopefully the good karma will come back to you later on.

Robin

 

[Erica]

That's a terrible outcome of a good deed. I hope the duck decides to hang in there and recover.

I've been on the opposite side of this same story. I was staying at the in-laws' place one Christmas, and had put my dog in the backyard while I ducked out to shops. While I was gone my brother-in-law let his ducks out to free range. It was a terrible thing to come back to.

Alas, we can't rewind time.

Erica

 

[CMV]

The duck made it through the night, but I need to make a decision today about her. She is obviously more wounded than is visible to the eye. I believe she may have a puncture to her windpipe, and she definitely has laryngeal damage and can't quack. Her breathing is labored and sounds very wet and crackly. Her breathing was labored last night, but the crackling leads me to believe she is getting some fluid in there. I cannot see any tears in the windpipe, so the crush injury must have done the damage, but unless I can see the damage, I can't fix it. She is quite calm despite the injuries and situation.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I am still really upset by the situation, but...these things happen, I guess.

I think I will be getting some free coop cleaning for a while, D'Angelo N Va.. And Erica, I am so sorry you were on the opposite side of the situation. I know my friends were just aghast. I honestly felt really bad for them, but I feel worse for my duck who will probably end up buried next to their dog.

 

[jbourget]

Sorry to hear about this situation but i had somethign very very similar happen to me with a duck actually. the skin behidn the neck was slashed and she had her whole neck exposed and the flap of skin barley holding together to connect her feathers on her head. i did as you did and seperated her up but she lived 2 days and died. couldnt bare to eat nor drink i think? they are very pain hardy things but time just takes its toll on them. you should put her down. just whats best for her at this point

 

[bobbi-j]

To keep a good relationship with my friends, I think I'd just let it go. You did say that the dog "slipped out" of the car. And they obviously feel bad enough about it the way it is. But that's just me. Good relationships with people are more important to me than than an animal. I mean, it would be different if they intentionally let the dog go, or were being negligent in some way, but this was an accident.