I say Cash’s return because this is the first time I have let him go to this park and swim since the ‘incident’.
It happened before I started this little blog. Right after we moved here and the poor little dog wasn’t acclimated to the altitude yet.
I thought it would be fun to take doggie and kiddos (two at the time, I was pregnant with Christian) to the park near our house because I had heard about these little ponds you could let the dog swim in.
Knowing Cash would happily die swimming I took them up, little did I know….
Cash actually did die swimming that day.
Are you confused? Yes I just shot this photo this morning, not two years ago.
I was throwing sticks in the water for him to go retrieve and after a little while I thought he was starting to look tired. So I threw the stick in one last, fateful time.
He got the stick and was swimming back to shore when I started thinking, “He’s not looking so good.”
He was lower down in the water than normal and looking like he was taking in a lot of water. I was thinking, “He needs to drop that stick!” (by the way, the kids were happily playing behind me in the dirt completely oblivious to what was happening and please remember I was 5 months pregnant at the time this story takes place). At the same time I was thinking he needed to drop the stick, he actually did. Anyone who personally knows a Jack Russell Terrier knows that dropping the stick is a SURE sign of distress. Jack Russell Terriers NEVER drop the stick. I am still amazed, to this day, that he did.
At that point I knew this was going to be a close one, so I started yelling at him, “Cash! Common, you can make it! Common buddy!” He made it about halfway back and was struggling hard, actually swimming sideways as I was urging him on.
Suddenly I knew he wasn’t going to make so I ran into the water. Just as I was about to him he plunged under, no longer swimming, no longer moving. I could just see his cold little white form under the water (this will be Jeremiah’s favorite line in the story – I am borrowing it from him.) Anyway, seconds after he went under I got to him and pulled him up. I called his name and he unresponsive so I rushed him back to shore. At this point, Linus was watching me and likely thinking, “What the heck is mom doing? She is so weird.” Didn’t matter, I am sure there were plenty of other people there that day thinking the same thing.
I got him back to shore and laid him down on the sand. The only thing I could think of was when I was at a horse show one time and a foal needed CPR and my friend’s dad, Mr. Jackson who was a fire fighter, performed CPR on this foal. I don’t think it was really an actual thought but something triggered that memory and I started performing CPR on my dog.
I had no idea what I was doing.
But I did it.
I kept pumping his chest while I wildly looked around for help – anyone I could hand the situation over to and not be in charge anymore.
A guy came running over with his wife and kids and she took the kids all over so they couldn’t see what was happening and he offered to help. Then another gal came running over and offered to help as well and she ended up taking over the CPR.
I was crying.
This wonderful lady worked on my dog for nearly 10 minutes.
At about 8 or so she said, “I don’t know, I think he’s gone but I’ll keep going.”
So she did and then he did the equivalent of a dog gasp and I got all excited, but she tried to keep me calm, “I don’t know this might just be the end…” but she kept going and he actually started coughing and breathing!
Everyone standing there was cheering and so excited. She laid him down so he could rest and we all gave him some space except I gently petted him to try to keep him calm and let him know I was there. After a few minutes of rest I asked if any of them knew of a vet that would be open (it was saturday and we had just moved here so I didn’t have a vet yet) and the gal that saved him said her vet was open on saturdays so she called them to let them know we were coming and the couple that first came over offered to drive us down so that I could hold Cash.
Amazingly his x-rays showed very little water had actually gotten into his lungs, the vet said the only reason we were able to save him was because I got to him as quickly as I did.
He can be a rather naughty little dog but I wasn’t ready to loose him yet!
So today was the first time since then, that we went back to the those ponds. There are two of them so we went to the one that he DIDN’T drown in. But I was still very apprehensive and kept a very close eye on him and made him rest between ball retrievals.
But this still made me REALLY nervous:
The kids sure had a great time playing in the water and the dirt though.
I love it when they have the chance to play outside and get really wet and muddy. It’s so good for them 🙂
Here’s a few pictures:
- Huckleberry Plum Pie - January 1, 2017
- Fresh Mango Sorbet - July 17, 2016
- Steak Caesar Salad - June 8, 2016
