many of you have seen my away message lately about me dealing with a dog who was dead. Let me first say, no, it wasn't Huck. Lord knows Huck has tried to get himself killed by crossing the road in front of my house, but he's been lucky. This was a dog I didn't know.

Wednesday, I forgot my lunch, and decided to go to a local rib place for a big 'ol order of fries. Since I brought some pepper from home to work w/a grinder, brought in food tastes a lot better. Well, around this time, I saw a dog running around. He reminded me most of a dog Carole, someone who worked for the farm, had, named Dusty. He had a collar, and I was gonna try to find out where he belonged, as I was on Rt. 34, and it's a busy road. Before I could do anything, he ran behind a nearby house and I figured he was ok. Well, a few minutes later, traffic started slowing down and swerving, and my stomach dropped. I looked outside, and I could see the dog in the road, and he wasn't moving. I whipped out my cell and called the local police dispatch to let them know. Almost right away, a unmarked car drove by, turned around, pulled over, and turned his lights on. Immediatly after that, a marked cruiser pulled up. I didn't want to go interfere, and especially didn't want to see a dead dog. I went out towards my car, by which time the officer had pulled the dog off the roadway and onto the shoulder. Nearby was the dogs owner and she was a mess, as anyone who loses an animal is. All of a sudden, my emotions went away, and I felt a duty to do something.

I went into my paranoia-stocked trunk, grabbed a movers blanket I always have floating around in there, went into the car to get my work gloves, and went over. The owner was in tears, screaming and crying, along w/her mother and I think her brother. The cop was handing her the dogs collar, and after he did that, I caught his eye and motioned that I wanted to cover the body. I hate to be gory, but I have to mention it eventually. If you don't want to read anything, skip the next small text.  The dog's head was completely crushed, and there was a good amount of blood. He did die instantly, which was fortunate. He nodded, and I covered the dog so the owners wouldn't have to see. I kind of stuck around off to the side b/c the unmarked car had a plain cloths officer/detective whom I decided wouldn't help move the dog, and the uni was by himself. I didn't know what the procedure was, like if animal control comes out, and if not, I could at least help the officer. About two minutes later, the traffic started backing up, and the officer was trying as delicately as he could to tell the owner she had to do something w/ the body. She was still crying, trying to call her bf(?) on her cell, her mother was upset, as was the brother. I don't remember what the chain of events was, or even what I said & to whom, but we were going to wrap the dog in the blanket so we could get him off the shoulder. I told the people to turn around, as I didn't want them to see the dog when I uncovered it, and we moved it onto the blanket. I pulled the blanket off, unfolded it all the way, and got the front legs while the officer got the back legs. We put him in the center of the blanket and folded it over so it would stay closed. He then helped me bring it into the people's backyard, and went to talk to the owners. I went back to my car to get some string/rope/cord to wrap the bundle up. When I got back, someone must have unwrapped the blanket, and there was a lot of crying/screaming going on. Apparently the mother let the dog out, and either he got off his leash or they just let him run free b/c he didn't go into the road. The mother was apologizing, the daughter was screaming at her for killing the dog, and also talking about the dog. I re-wrapped the bundle, and started tying it up so it wouldn't open up when they decided what to do w/him. The advice was to bury him. I didn't weigh in, b/c I was trying to keep busy. After I finished tying the bundle, the brother thanked me, picked the dog up, and walked towards the backyard. I went off back to my car.

I was fine afterwords for ~30 minutes. Then I started thinking about it. The dog had just turned two years old. Just a little older than Walden. The scenes started replaying in my head, and it some it was Huck or Walden or Sarge. The emotions that had been turned off started coming back on-line. I couldn't get back into the swing at work, and just wanted to get home to see Huck. When I got home, I made sure to sit w/ him for awhile, gave him a little something extra for dinner, and let him crash on the couch w/me. The next morning, when I went to feed the babies, Sarge was out, and I went over to pet him.

I still get a little emotional when I think about it. I didn't know the dog, or had ever seen him before.

OK, that's it for now. Just wanted to let everyone what happened. I hope I didn't bum anyone out, and you have a great, albeit snowy(in NJ), day.

There was a lot of good stuff that happened this weekend, but I must first post what happened to S'mores. To be brief, S'mores is no longer with us in this world. Kari and I made the decision to have her put down after some serious injuries she received on Sunday morning. We came out to the barn to find her curled up on a hay bale. Kari saw that her tail had been bitten, and then she picked her up. When she did, and showed me, I knew it was serious. There was an exposed bone, and most of the back part of her leg was hanging off. There were some injuries to her other leg also. I ran inside and called Freehold vet, but they were closed. We were referred to the nearest Pet ER, Garden State Veterinary Specialists, in Tinton Falls. I got directions from my neighbor Glenn, and we were on our way there. Growing up around animals and a farm, I kinda knew it was bad. I tried to brace Kari for the fact we may have to put her to sleep. S'mores was very much not like herself and was kind of responsive and warm. We got to the hospital, and brought her in and they took her away while I filled out paperwork. After what seemed like hours, they called us in to talk to us. It was bad.

The exposed bone was her tibia. We never checked the hanging part of her foot to see if it had blood flow, so we didn't know. Also, in her other paw, all the "finger" bones were broken. She was in very bad shock. Her body was working overtime to keep the blood flow up and was draining her energy. They were pumping in fluids as fast as they could to stabilize her, but after they stabilized her, they were going to have to put her under to clean out the wounds and reduce the chances of infection. More than likely, she was going to lose the leg. Then we were informed of the possible internal injuries. There was a chance she had broken a rib, ruptured her bladder or other organs, or had a spinal injury. Each of those on their own was serious. So they gave us three options. Amputate the leg and try and save her life, try to save the leg and save her life, or put her down. They said that since she was young, she had a chance to recover some. But in my head, I was thinking about all the pain that was in store for her, and also even if she suffered through it, she still might die. We were left to decide, and I think Kari knew what had to be done. She was in shock now, and was pretty much out of it and pain free. We decided she had to be put down. So we were given three more options. Watch her be put down, see her before, or just do it. I was not going with the first two, but Kari wanted to see her, and as long as I had her there next to me, I figured I could. My only demand was that we get the body back. She grew up on the farm, and I was bringing her back.

They brought her in wrapped up in the towel we came in with. Except for the catherder in her arm, it was easy to forget that she was broken underneath the towel. It was easier to remember her passed out on my bed, or on the couch, or chasing things on the TV, than to think of her lying there dying. Kari and I both took turns petting her, and talking to her, and saying our last goodbyes into those cute little eyes. They took her away, and we left and pulled around to the back of the building, where they brought her to us in a nice box. We came back to the farm, and I laid her to rest next to SexyBoy, and we said our final goodbye to her. OK, that's enough for me now. I'm bawling my eyes out at work, and I shouldn’t be. I'll try to update more later.

The Rainbow Bridge Something all pet owners should read and remember.