Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Stanley's Scary Story

During my blogging drought many things happened that caused me to think, "Oh, I must blog about this!". Our family furkids always provide a lot of funny stories to share, but this time it was quite scary and traumatic.

Stan is our Greyhound "grandson', who owns our son, The Writer and his wife, Sammy. He's been in the family for about four years now, so he's a "solid" Boston Family member.

Waiting for The Writer and Sammy

You may remember his early days with the clan as he adjusted to our ways, or rather we adjusted to his:

Stan the Man!

In April, Sammy and The Writer took some time off and headed back to our home state, Florida. The Maven was asked to watch after Stan in their absence. This has always gone smoothly before.

This time things took a scary turn as Mr. Stan decided to test the boundaries of his backyard retreat-something he's never done before. He slipped out unexpectedly and was missing for about 20 minutes before The Maven realized it!

She called us (1 hour away) in a panic. Panic for many reasons, Stanley is naive about traffic, the area of LA they all live in has a lot (I mean, a lot!) of traffic and well...he was out!

Leaving Animal Control

Fortunately our good family friends live right behind our kids, so The Maven called Mrs. Smith-Smith for help. Mrs. S-S and The Maven sprung into action armed with a leash, a pic of Stan and his adoption file.

We got into Mr T's truck and headed towards LA.


At the emergency vets

Time passed with many updates, but still no sightings or information about Stanley. I spent the ride composing a Craigslist ad and talking and texting with Stan's distressed parents who by this time had been told what was going on.


Home at last, recuperating in the backyard.

As we neared their neighborhood and swung our heads back and forth looking for a sign of him we got an update from The Maven and Mrs. S-S. Someone had given them the phone number to Animal Control and when they called they were told a Greyhound matching Stanley's description had been brought in....after being hit by a car.

The "nurses" supervising Stan's yard time.

Only people who have received this kind of news can understand the mixture of elation and fright this news brings.  We headed to Animal Control to meet The Maven and Mrs.S-S.

Expecting the worst, we were met with a "best case scenario". Yes, Stan had been hit, but there appeared to be no broken bones. He was extremely stressed, bloody and sore, but oh.....it could have been so much worse.

Long story short which included: an overnight stay at the Emergency Vet (because of course, this happened on a Sunday) for 24-hour observation;  the arrival of Mal-Pal (good friend of the Maven who was staying for a week); eventual release to go back home under 24/7 watch; TBL relocating up to LA for the week and conducting Japanese/English classes with Stan's assistance.


Quiet Teaching Assistant

We survived. Stanley was very bruised, had a torn trachea, punctured tongue. Medication was difficult to give because his tongue made it hard to eat, but he eventually could tolerate soft food in which we crushed up his pills. All in all a lucky dog. And lucky us.


Lessons learned:
 always check the gates. LA has an awesome Animal Control team which gives excellent trauma care to the animals brought in who are injured. Because we were able to identify Stan, he got further care to stabilize him before he was transferred (in Mr. T's truck) to the ER Vet. Micro-chipping your pets is a good idea-Stanley would have been ID'd quicker  (he can't wear tags as they fall off over his skinny head). Emergency Vets are really expensive (we knew this, but really? This much?).  Mrs. Smith-Smith is a cool cucumber during a crisis-Thanks Mrs. S-S!

Finally,
Stan's a great teaching assistant-nice and quiet and
 doesn't climb on my keyboard like my other TA does.


Phew!





15 comments:

rottrover said...

OMG!! A scary story with a very happy ending! Stanley! STAY!!!

Anonymous said...

So very sorry about Stanley. I know each of you were frantic. So thankful for animal control. Here's hoping he is better each and every day.

Razmataz said...

Well that is a good outcome considering. I was grand dog sitting Henry Francis and walking him with Balto when I stopped to scoop the poop and dropped the leash for ! SECOND. Henry flew into the road chasing a car and luckily my neighbor drives slowly because she has kids playing street hockey. He was 1 foot from being hit. Scared the LIFE out of me.

Give him a cuddle from your blogging friend....and I bet Maven needed one too...how frightening.

Razmataz said...

By the way, we have rigged our gate with a bungee cord because occasionally the meter man goes in or a kid looking for a ball. That way it springs shut.

betty said...

That was scary! Glad the outcome was the way it was! Always glad to have emergency vets, except when it comes to paying the bill. Every time we go to the vet, I always think "I should have been a vet".

I'm sure all was grateful that Stanley's injuries were not as serious as they could have been.

betty

Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces said...

Oh my gosh...how awful. I am SO glad this had a good ending. I can't imagine how scary this was for all of you...xo

Leslie said...

ohmygosh.. that was scary. We went through something just like that a long time ago. I am so glad that he is ok. : )

the cape on the corner said...

oh man, so glad this had the happy ending! we have gone to emergency vets a few times, and yep, it's crazy. but worth it.

Mr. Connor said...

Never a dull minute . What an adventure. All turned out well. He has a "chip" now, right ? Sure was / is a lucky dog ! Scare the heck out of everyone !

Kit said...

Oh my! That is horrible! What you must have been going thru. I get upset when my cat hides outside for a day after a visit to the vet! I hope he heals up just fine. Glad it all turned out okay. :) Kit

Patricia @ 9th and Denver said...

Poor Stan the Man!
I wonder what made him so scared that he left to begin with?
I also wonder if he's tried it again?
I'm glad the outcome was the 'best case scenario' and not the other way 'round.
Not long after I had Buster, ... He vanished! He was gone for like 9 hours. We couldn't find him anywhere. I drove through the country side calling him, and searching for him. Oh I cried!
Finally, around 4:30 pm that afternoon --he showed up at the gate. Looking in. As though he couldn't figure out why WE WERE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GATE!
I was never so happy to see a dog ...in all my days. It was sickening really. That was when I realized-- I really loved my drop off dog. ;)
:P

Mr. Tennis said...

As the saying goes "All's well that ends well."

Mr. Tennis said...

As the saying goes "All's well that ends well."

Debby@Just Breathe said...

I am so thankful that Stanley is doing okay. I can just imagine the feelings of fear while he was missing. ((HUGS)) We have Skye chipped. I have to say that over all the 40 something years of having dogs they always managed to have an emergency during off hours and yes it is very expensive! Debby

Unknown said...

Stan and all of you were always in my prayers.
I often think about what you went thru and give thanks for the happy ending.