BGK, I'm sorry. I can't imagine how I'd feel if that happened to one of my dogs.
When my two were struggling in the open ice hole, I would have gone in after them, although I don't know if I would have made it back out. Just me and the dogs, nobody else around. The thought crossed my mind, and that was the last resort plan. 10' water depth, about 25' of clear 1"-2" ice betweem me and them. I ended up running to the barn, getting a long extension ladder and slamming it on the ice to break a channel most of the way to the dogs. I first tried putting it on the ice and walking on it, but the ice started to crack.
They were well trained, so I was able to call them to me and when they both tried to get up on the ice side by side, the remaining ice broke and they could swim in the channel to within a couple feet of shore. At that point I could grab them. The banks there are 2:1, so they still couldn't touch bottom. Right befor they got to where I could grab them, Dottie; (the one on the right in my avatar) as she was swimming, put her paw on top of Cal's head (the one to the left) and he went down under the water surface. I was able to grab her then and tossed her up on the bank. He still wasn't coming up, and I was to the point where in another few seconds I was going in. Then he came up. When I got him on the bank, his back was hunched up, and it seemed like he coudn't straighten it out. I knew he was colder than her becaues he was thinner, and he didn't shake himself off once on shore like she did. He just stood there looking at me, ice covering his head and water running off his fur...
I told them both to heel and had to tell Dottie "No Bird" because she still wanted to go back in the pond after the geese. I walked as fast as they'd let me to the house (100-150 yds away) and immediately threw both of them in the shower. I turned on the hot water and stayed in the bathroom with them monitoring their condition and the water temp until they stopped shivering. I figured if the shower water wasn't too hot for me, it was O.K. for them.
I toweled them off and neither of them seemed any worse for the experience. But, I knew that I had to watch them like a hawn when I let them out, and I knew I had to change the winter diffuser's position in the pond.
I had let them both out to go to the bathroom (about 3:00 p.m. and they weren't by the door to come back in like they usually were. They didn't come when called, so I put on my coat & hat and went out looking. When I rounded the corner of the barn and heard the geese honking in the pond I knew where they were.....
They're both gone now. Dottie died sudeenly one night. I heard the food bowl clank and I got up to see what was going on. It was her lying there. Cal was diagnosed with a heart murmur a year later and he lasted 6 more months.
Last edited by esshup; 03/26/13 11:58 PM.
