Today I had one of those situations where I was in the right place at the right time, and I was able to save a life. In other circumstances, the life saved could have been my own (i.e. I could have been the one who owned it).

Because it's mrs_bat's and my second wedding anniversary today, we're going out on a "date". We dropped off Grimmy at Spa Woof so that they would tire him out and he could sleep off his evening alone. His usual days are Tuesday and Thursday, but we made an exception.

After dropping Grimmy off I stuck around a bit, talking to the owner. She was alone there, as she always is until 9:30 until the other guy who works there arrives. There were already a few dogs there, including a Weimaraner named Amber, a Husky or two, a large brown bushy dog named Chewie, a big black/brown dog and also an 8 month old Silky Terrier/Mini Schnauzer mix available for adoption. Most of the dogs wear their collars while in the play area, and Amber was wearing her choker collar too.

Amber had been play-fighting with the black/brown dog the whole time I was there. At some point, the owner of the place interrupted our conversation to go help Amber, who was apparently in some trouble. It turned out the black/brown dog had managed to get its lower jaw under Amber's choker collar, and in all the play-fighting the dogs had gotten twisted around, and now Amber was choking. The other dog couldn't let go, because the choker was also pulled tight around his jaw, and in any case dog teeth are not built for letting go of things.

The owner was in there for a few seconds, and she didn't seem able to do anything, so I went in to help. I realized what had happened with the choker collar, and while the owner held Amber steady I managed to lift up the other dog and turn him around in the proper direction to un-twist the collar. After that, the jaw came loose, the choker was quickly removed from Amber's neck, and Amber was up and running again.

Amber was lucky there was someone attentive enough to realize she was choking, and a second person there to help extricate her. It would have been absolutely tragic for her owners to lose such a beautiful, friendly dog.

New rule: No more choker collars in Spa Woof. EVAR!

^v^:)^v^
FB