This entry originally posted on 8/28/2008. I’m re-posting this because last night around 6:30pm, my dog Harlan was hit by a large truck. He’s about 8 years old, but some boys never lose the desire to chase. He has extensive nerve damage to his right front leg, blood in his eyes, and a lot of bruising. We will be allowed to bring him home from the vet later tonight. He’ll need to be isolated to see how he can recover for about a week. If he’s able to get some of the nerves to regrow in his leg, then he will be able to keep his leg…if not, it will have to be amputated soon. Otherwise he won’t be able to adjust and he’d be dragging his leg around, which can lead to infections and all sorts of issues. He’s not a smart dog, but he’s a good one. We are trusting for 4 legs, but we’ll love him with 3 even more if it comes to that.
Harlan and Saul have been looking a little down lately. My typical love language for them is either a nice punch in the ribs or a smack in the face to get them all rowdy. I keep forgetting that they’re sensitive and just like my wife, they want me to be spontaneous and take them to interesting places. I’ve never taken these dweebs to the dog park before, so I decided yesterday was the day.
I loaded the pooches up into the back of the 4runner, and we set off for an adventure. Surely they thought they were headed towards euthanasia as I don’t take them anywhere really. They’ve got a nice doggie-door with access to come and go as they please, as well as a big enough yard to frolic around like mentally-ill Gazelles. Their life is good…really good. You can’t ever have too much culture though, and these dudes lack culture. Culture…here we come.
Everything started out nice. There weren’t many dogs there at all, maybe six or seven others.
Other dogs would come up to check us out and see if they wanted us to join their respective clubs.
Saul was basking in the glory of it all. He kept looking at me with the grin as if to say, “I love you Master…I love you so much.”
He was checking everyone out asking them if they wanted to be his BFF.
Saul wrestled with many a dog larger than he and held his own like a champion.
Harlan was a little different story however.
Although he’s got nearly 40lbs on Saul…it’s all wuss. Harlan is approximately 50lbs of marshmallow fluff mixed with Richard Simmons exercise DVDs and Polly Pocket accessories. This dog is a sissy.
Ridgeback mix my foot…Harlan spent the majority of his time at the dog park hiding from his shadow on top of picnic tables. I kept checking under him to see if he did indeed have a weiner and although it was there…the evidence wasn’t shown anywhere else.
Now I will admit that Nala, a dominatrix of a mutt, was a bit on the controlling side.
But this is just embarrassing.
Of the few times that Harlan wasn’t on top of a table, he spent it trying to figure out how to escape the dog park all together. What a ninny.
Other dogs kept coming up to me whispering…”Is he okay?”
Note to self as a photographer…next time try not to use Saul’s southbound side as a focal point.
All in all, it was an hour well spent. I think I’ll have to bring them back soon. We’ll get Harlan over his fears and Saul can reign supreme once more.
First, thanks for sharing that post! How funny! Isn’t that always the way? The big ones are the scardey cats!
Second, I hope Harlan is OK. I had an awesome black lab, Licorice, when I was a child/teenager. She was hit by a truck as well when she was 3. Fortunatly, she recovered to live for another 10 years, thank God. I’ll say a prayer for Harlan and all of you.
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Oh no! Poor baby. I hope Harlan recovers.
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I’m so sorry about Harlan. I hope he makes a full recovery. I’ll be sending good thoughts your way.
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Hope Harlan feels better soon!
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Poor pup! Smart, confident dogs are all well and good, but the shy sissy ones hold a special place in our hearts. I am praying for your puppy.
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We’re praying for a full recovery for Harlan! Just a little side note – I worked at a greenhouse that had 2 border collies. One had all 4 legs, one only 3. The little lady with 3 was the fastest poochie I’ve ever seen!!!
Love the doggy pictures
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I’m sorry to hear that Harlan was hurt. However, as a previous owner of a 3-legged dog (named Princess Ilean…because she leaned a little to the left), that missing leg is a blessing in disguise!
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Sorry to hear of your pooch’s mishap! Keep us updated. As for the dog park story, I’m still laughing. Living in an apartment and being proud owners of a Jack Russell Terrier . . . we spend a lot of time at the dog parks, yes, more than one. :0) Anyway, your rendition and poor pups fear of the dog park proved very funny! Thanks re-posting, I hadn’t seen this post. :0)
Cute pups! Best of wishes to Harlan. . .
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So sorry to hear about Harlan, what a beautiful dog/friend. He and your family will be in my thoughts.
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So sorry about Harlan’s injuries – and the dog park story is such a hoot. We have two small dogs who think they are just so bad – they’ll bark and snarl at anything – as long as they are on our porch or inside the house staring out windows.
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Hope your pup recovers well. We’ve been through lots of animal injury and hardship, too. Tough times. The old post cracked me up.
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We just prayed really hard for all of you!
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Saying some prayers for Harlan’s full and speedy recovery.
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Sorry about your doggie. I have a cat who lost his front right let due to nerve damage. He has no clue he’s handicap. He just gets on with his life like he has all 4 legs. Hope it does not come to that for you, but if so animals are really resilient. That can adapt to most things.
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Oh Ryan you are funny and I love the doggie park. I go with my daughter and her dog sometimes. It’s always lots of fun and interesting. I’m sure Harlan will be just fine regardless. He has you and your family as his people doesn’t he? You are a great story teller. Thanks for the laughs I needed that.
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About 12 years ago, our “Max” had the same thing happen.. he was also 8 and our 4 year daughter just prayed ” up ” that leg and it didn’t have to be amputated, but it didn’t leave a big Goldie running around on three legs for FIVE MORE YEARS!! When we got another little stray pup five years ago our 6 year old son said, “wow… this is my first 4 legged dog”!!! The point is that little 4 year old heard the vet say maybe if his leg stayed up rather than dragging it would be okay and she began to pray without ceasing – it was sweet and it worked
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I almost spewed milk out of my nose with your description of how big a wuss Harlan is…that describes my pooch perfectly!
So sorry to read that he was hit. I’ll be praying that he gets to keep the leg and makes a full recovery, but I know that you’ll love him just as much if he’s a 3-legged dog. Lots of prayers and hugs sent your way (for the 2-legged and 4-legged people in your family).
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Though I’m not an expert about dogs by any means, your Harlan was reacting to the dog park with fear. Fear-based behavior can be dealt with but you have to know how. If you haven’t watched ‘The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan’ on National Geographic Channel, I suggest you do. There are a number of repeated shows during the week and the main on is on at 8 or 9 p..m. Fridays. It’s in reruns now, but still a good learning experience.
Cesar basically teaches that the dog pack will teach a dog everything he needs to know and it’s the humans in the dog’s life who screw him up.
Our emotions are what dogs feed off of, if you are stressed out or fearful, your dog will be too. It is the goal of Cesar to teach people to be
‘calm, submissive, balanced’. Once we reach a calm, submissive state, our dogs’ behavior changes. It does take some work and doesn’t work overnight. But when Cesar does the exercises on his show with the dogs, it is surprising what he can do.
The dogs in the dog park were approaching Harlan to see if he could be trusted. Since he was fearful, he avoided their interaction and they, in turn avoided him. If he had settled down and climbed down off the table, they would have approached him and perhaps in a while, Harlan would have had some fun. But he was too uptight. How were YOU feeling then? The answer to that question is why Harlan was acting the way he was.
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Andrea says:
June 27th, 2010 at 8:27 am
@Carol Alaniz, hehe… I like that you gave an explanation of why Harlan acted that way and blamed it on the owner… but who gets credit for his other dog, Saul, doing awesome at the park?
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Oh….forgot to say. Though you don’t know it, your feelings about Harlan….being a wuss and all, he can feel that. Just sayin’. Dogs can feel our attitudes. Just like you can feel a bad attitude from someone without them even saying anything, animals can sense also. Try to be more compassionate towards your dogs and you just may find they act differently.
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Cassie Sue says:
June 28th, 2010 at 11:41 am
@Carol Alaniz,
Some dogs make friends easily (Saul) and some don’t (Harlan). It is a new environment, with new stimulus and it was a little much for Harlan. That isn’t to say after a few trips back that he wouldn’t have a lot more fun.
It’s like when you take a kid to preschool, some LOVE it and some take a little more time to make friends. It isn’t bad parenting, it is just an individual thing.
Now if Harlan was agressive I would agree with you, but being a sissy is okay.
But that’s just my opinion, and well… what do I know? LOL
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