Some of you may know that I am very heavily involved in the rescue, rehabilitation and adoption of the racing greyhounds.

One of the things I do is babysit other peoples greyhounds while they are on vacation.  Last week I was supposed to sit for a dog for two weeks.  The day before the people went on vacation, the dog cut it's foot in the yard.  They took the dog to the vet.  The vet wanted to see the dog in a week.  I agreed to take the dog to the vet while in my posession.

I took the dog to the vet, and everything looked good.  Two blocks away from the vets office, on the way home, the dog had a heart attack and died.  

I have been in this situation before.  I usually take in the dogs recovering from broken legs.  I get them healthy and ready for adoption.  On a few occassions, I have resesitated dogs that had bad infections, or whatever.

This time nothing I did worked.  I had to call the people and tell them that their friend has gone to meet it's maker.

I feel like shit...but I can't stop doing what I do.  I have a 2 year old girl here right now that survived a broken leg at the track...the surgery was a success, and I am giving her fluids intraveneously.  She gets better every day.

Please pray for these dogs.  

Sorry to hear the news. I'm a big dog lover...hate to hear about stuff like this....they don't live long enough as it is.

Thanks for all of your concerns...

That's sad news ... Sounds like you did all you could do. I hate hearing bad news about peoples dogs.

Greyhounds are amazing animals. We take our Lab every Sunday morning to a local field for a "Dog Social", and every week there are a half a dozen Greys there (there's a rescue league in this area as well) and the speed at which they circle the field is absolutely incredible. My dog will try to play with them, but when they decide to run, it's like he's standing still.

aw, sweet puppy

that sucks, roadhawk  

Quoted: Please pray for these dogs.

Prayers on the way.

My sister has three of them.  They can be pretty fragile.  Great dogs and pets though.  Big lap dogs.

RoadHawk,

I hate to make light of your sadness but you may be a relative of mine.    My dad raises and sells black labradors as a hobby. He's gotten good at it and sells nationally and has had several field champions and a national champ come out of his kennel.

well by association I bacame a dog expert growing up.  Well, a lab expert anyway.   Well we had some friends who had a lab that was acting sort of weird  they said. I said "vet." they said "Come over and see if it's normal"

Well I finally agreed to go see what was wrong with the "Weird acting" dog.  I walked into the garage,  the dog looks at me,  sits up, struggles to it's feet and comes over.  The SECOND I touched that dog, she froze in place, sat down and DIED ON THE FLOOR.

I was like; WTF?!?! JUST HAPPENED?!!? (well, in my head I was like WTF?!?!?!)  The whole family is looking at this "Expert" like I just killed their dog. All I could do was stammer......


well, we found out it was cancer and the dog was doomed from day one. Coincidentally I managed to be petting her when she passed but for years, those kids wouldn't let me near any of their dogs for fear I'd kill it with some sort of secret dog death grip.


I'm sorry for your loss, and for being sort of associated withe passing of their friend because you're a nice guy to take care of their dog for them.

Good thoughts headed your way.

Quoted: Good thoughts headed your way.

+1

You are doing good work man. Keep it up Bro.

Amen to you and your friends. I am sorry to hear about the little guy.

I could only think of what can be going through your mind at the moment. As difficult as it is, know that what you are doing today for your own baby and what you do every day for other rescues makes a difference in their lives and their future in a positive aspect. We've had an experience with an cat that was dropped off nearby because someone didn't want it.  Wasn't that old either.  You could tell that it was an indoor animal but it was malnourished. It was quite the friendly little one too. I ended up making some phone calls around town to different groups then came upon one a well known rescue group who was more than willing to accept a new member to the family. We took him to their vet and 2 weeks later I got an email saying that it only took about a week and he was back to good health, the correct weight, etc. A family had been screened and approved for adoption. They thanked me for putting forth the effort and giving him the chance of living a good life. I thought it was kind of cool that the owner went the extra line and sent me the email with the details including the thank you note.

You've got compassion and caring; two important factors to have when working with animals. They may not be able to say it but they appreciate anyone who can give them attention, love, and well rounded care.