Neighbor's dog died-I feel just terrible....
Neighbor's dog died-I feel just terrible....
Our neighbors, 3 young guys, had a beagle named Bandit and a chocolate Lab named Boone; over the last couple of months I would let them into our fenced-in yard so they could run around-their yard is not fenced-in. I told them they could also let them run around when they wanted to let them in even if we aren't home. About a week ago, I had Bandit the Beagle in the yard, and I lost track of him for maybe 30 seconds if that; when I found him he was eating something and when I looked closer it was a mushroom, so I took as much away from him as I could get, took him home and knocked on the door and told the one young guy "watch him, he ate a mushroom, keep an eye on him" as I didn't know if they were dangerous or not. I'm sure that wasn't the first time that he ate one, either, as he used to eat leaves, etc. I hadn't seen or heard him all week, just thought we were missing the times that they let him out on a leash. This afternoon the neighbor across the street said that he died last Friday! My heart sank, and tonight I finally got to talk to the one guy about it; he said that he hadn't been acting right the day before, and the younger brother DID tell them what I said, and he did throw up that night but they figured he'd be alright but he died in his sleep during the night. He also said the previous owner said he did have Lyme disease too, but we'll never know if the mushrooms did him in or if he was sick or what but I feel just terrible!!! But my other neighbor who has dogs said "your responsibility ended when you TOLD THEM what he ate-they should've taken it from there" which I guess is true-they could've called a vet and talked about it or taken him in when he was throwing up....but I still feel really bad about it even though they don't blame me, and said they have mushrooms in their yard too, and have a lot of metal and junk laying around since they are still redoing their garage; maybe he ate something else, or it was just his time or it was the mushrooms....but I miss the little guy already, and at least we gave him some enjoyment by letting him run around our yard and gave him biscuits. I know I did what I could but I just feel awful about this....
Re: Neighbor's dog died-I feel just terrible....
Aww...Les, nothing anyone can say is going to make you feel any better because you are such a caring person. It sounds like you loved Bandit as much as they did. If anything, it sounds like you kept him out of harm's way with that generous agreement to share your fenced yard with them. Had something happened because he was in an unprotected area, I believe you would have felt badly for not offering your yard...because that is who you are. Don't regret doing a loving thing for this little one - there is no blame here. He went to the Bridge well loved by two families in God's good time.
Christine... and Bailey, playing at the Bridge
?/1999 - 10/25/08
Re: Neighbor's dog died-I feel just terrible....
I think it's great that you let them run around your yard. Beagles, being hounds, are known for eating everything that won't eat them, and maybe a few things that will. I think you went above and beyond to keep such a good eye on them and to warn the people that he'd eaten something that might harm him.
Re: Neighbor's dog died-I feel just terrible....
The more you try to help animals, the older you get, the more of these situations you collect. I don't know a way to really neutralize the affect they have on you.
Partly there is the not knowing. Is it my fault? How much should I blame myself? Should I have known? Was I on the completely wrong track? Did I miss something? Was something speaking inside of me that I ignored? Should I have done more? If someone else had been in my shoes, would the same thing have happened?
And then there is the law of unintended consequences. I believe this was my fault, and I meant well, but if I had just done nothing, this never would have happened. I should have stayed out of it. If there are people in the world with no pain in their heart, it may be because they have never gotten involved or done anything, so nothing has ever gone wrong that they could even remotely blame themselves for.
There was a woman here who had been rescuing cats for years and years and years. There was a cat who was clinging to the center divider of the expressway, a desperate situation, and she tried to rescue it but it got scared and ran into the lane. Then she had to decide how to continue doing her rescue work. The last I heard, she did not feel like doing it any more. But if she did not try, was the cat to be left in the middle of the expressway clinging to the divider? With as much experience as she had, what were the chances someone else could have rescued the cat without spooking it?
I don't know how you live with these things. As far as I can tell, they do just keep bothering you forever. You try even harder to be sure not to miss anything, but eventually something else will happen. And it will be one of those things that is a unique situation that has not happened to anyone else you know, so it wasn't on the radar for you to especially look out for. Did other neighbors in your neighborhood lose a dog to mushrooms that you heard of? Was there any reason for you to be especially vigilant? I guess not.
The absolute only comfort I can ever see in these situations is that, if there are dangerous mushrooms in the neighborhood and if this dog is attracted to them, then it was going to happen, this month, next month, next year, sometime. And if it happened on someone else's watch (in his mother's yard, his girlfriend's yard, etc), then they would be the one feeling this pain right now. So the only even slight good of you feeling this pain is, the pain that fell on you is not on someone else, you are saving someone else. It is a very small comfort.
There are dogs that eat socks and some of them die. My own dog ate chocolate while out on a walk and we had to rush to the emergency room. My other dog began eating mulch I had put down. I was hysterical after seeing her eat it, I didn't know what was in it, it turned out it had blood meal in it. You just can't tell what dogs are going to eat. You took it out of his mouth. You told the owner to watch him. You did the right thing. I agree with the neighbor who said your responsibility ended when you notified the owner. You could not even be sure there was a problem. The owner is probably feeling bad too, wondering if he should have stayed up all night. And nobody can even be sure mushrooms were the problem.
Can you imagine how a veterinarian must feel? Don't you think there are mistakes and oversights and things nobody knew and just freak accidents in veterinary medicine, and animals die? And they have to show up for work the next day. We all do the best we can with what we know at the time.
Partly there is the not knowing. Is it my fault? How much should I blame myself? Should I have known? Was I on the completely wrong track? Did I miss something? Was something speaking inside of me that I ignored? Should I have done more? If someone else had been in my shoes, would the same thing have happened?
And then there is the law of unintended consequences. I believe this was my fault, and I meant well, but if I had just done nothing, this never would have happened. I should have stayed out of it. If there are people in the world with no pain in their heart, it may be because they have never gotten involved or done anything, so nothing has ever gone wrong that they could even remotely blame themselves for.
There was a woman here who had been rescuing cats for years and years and years. There was a cat who was clinging to the center divider of the expressway, a desperate situation, and she tried to rescue it but it got scared and ran into the lane. Then she had to decide how to continue doing her rescue work. The last I heard, she did not feel like doing it any more. But if she did not try, was the cat to be left in the middle of the expressway clinging to the divider? With as much experience as she had, what were the chances someone else could have rescued the cat without spooking it?
I don't know how you live with these things. As far as I can tell, they do just keep bothering you forever. You try even harder to be sure not to miss anything, but eventually something else will happen. And it will be one of those things that is a unique situation that has not happened to anyone else you know, so it wasn't on the radar for you to especially look out for. Did other neighbors in your neighborhood lose a dog to mushrooms that you heard of? Was there any reason for you to be especially vigilant? I guess not.
The absolute only comfort I can ever see in these situations is that, if there are dangerous mushrooms in the neighborhood and if this dog is attracted to them, then it was going to happen, this month, next month, next year, sometime. And if it happened on someone else's watch (in his mother's yard, his girlfriend's yard, etc), then they would be the one feeling this pain right now. So the only even slight good of you feeling this pain is, the pain that fell on you is not on someone else, you are saving someone else. It is a very small comfort.
There are dogs that eat socks and some of them die. My own dog ate chocolate while out on a walk and we had to rush to the emergency room. My other dog began eating mulch I had put down. I was hysterical after seeing her eat it, I didn't know what was in it, it turned out it had blood meal in it. You just can't tell what dogs are going to eat. You took it out of his mouth. You told the owner to watch him. You did the right thing. I agree with the neighbor who said your responsibility ended when you notified the owner. You could not even be sure there was a problem. The owner is probably feeling bad too, wondering if he should have stayed up all night. And nobody can even be sure mushrooms were the problem.
Can you imagine how a veterinarian must feel? Don't you think there are mistakes and oversights and things nobody knew and just freak accidents in veterinary medicine, and animals die? And they have to show up for work the next day. We all do the best we can with what we know at the time.
Re: Neighbor's dog died-I feel just terrible....
Thank you all very much for your replies, I really appreciate you all taking the time out to answer me. I talked to several people about this, and one said "my dog eats mushrooms all the time, throws up and is fine-I think there was something else going on there" and I do believe he's right. My wife Debbie said "don't you remember I made the comment that night when I saw him that he doesn't seem like himself?" and I do remember her saying that, he wasn't as playful as he normally was, kind of slow and moping around, and they told me last night that he wasn't feeling well the day before. I talked to his "real" owner today and told him how sorry I was to hear the news. He said they had looked up mushrooms and toxicity and symptoms and he really didn't fit the bill all that much. He said "he had a tough life, Les-he was abused and had Lyme disease" and really didn't think he passed from eating them; we're sure that wasn't the first time that he did that, he probably ate them since Summertime when they were blooming thanks to the mold we had-they even had them in their own yard. So while I do feel better knowing it probably was just by chance, I still miss him and wished that I had more time with him, but he and I both enjoyed our brief time as "friends". I was sitting in church this morning, and the thought came to me that maybe he knew that he had to leave this Earth and life and just wanted to come over to see me one more time-maybe that was him saying "goodbye and thank you"....where's my hanky?
I'll miss him, but he is onto a better place and life now; and he went peacefully in his sleep for which I am thankful...
Thanks again....
I'll miss him, but he is onto a better place and life now; and he went peacefully in his sleep for which I am thankful...
Thanks again....