I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by an animal screaming, it sound a bit like a mating fox, but was much more urgent and distressing. It stopped and I waited for what seemed like an hour but was actually no more than a few minutes, and then it started again in earnest. It reminded me of a baby's cry and couldn't be ignored.
I leapt out of bed, hurriedly got dressed and ventured into the rear garden. The garden was 300 feet long but quite narrow, the fence separating us from the neighbours was three strands of wire that had drooped over the years from tiredness. It was easy to climb through and I made my way toward the stricken animal, I paused and suddenly thought that if this animal was a fox, then I'd have problems extracting it, so I ventured back in the moonless night to get a torch. Armed with a torch I set off again, all was quite. Had it got away? Was it dead? I stopped and listened..... there it was again and it sounded even more desperate. I was now six or seven gardens down and beginning to think how useless I was when I caught sight of this poor creature hanging upside down with one foot caught in the fencing wire. It was a dog and looked pretty scared. I tried to pick him up and turn him back the opposite way he'd got entangled, but he was getting distressed, I lowered him as gently as I could and decided to go back once again, this time for some wire cutters. The dogs reaction to my leaving was heart rending but I had to go. I ran as quickly as I could leaving the dog thinking he'd been abandoned.
When I eventually got back he really was in a bad way, but managed to wag his tail vigorously when I stroked him. He had a look of complete trust in me as I cut him down.
It took me a good ten minutes to cut the fence wires, extricate and eventually set him free. I thought he might run off but he didn't, he just wanted to lick me in return for my help. I carried him to the house and inspected his wounds, they weren't too bad but the wire had cut into his flesh so I bathed them with salt water and gave him something to eat and drink. I noted his address on his collar and decided to return him in the morning.
The house was only a few streets away and didn't take long to find. I explained what had happened to the owners, but they didn't seem that bothered about their dogs welfare. I reluctantly left him there.
The next day after returning from work my wife told me that there was someone waiting for me in the back garden. The dog almost knocked me over as he jumped up and was making the most peculiar noises in an effort to be picked up. He was one very grateful dog but I had to take him back and I told my wife that if he came back once more, I would keep him.
I never saw the dog again.
It wasn't until several years later that my wife told me, that the dog had returned three times but each time she had taken it back to the rightful owner. My wife wasn't an animal lover and besides she had a young baby and a husband to look after, she wasn't prepared to share her small home with a dog, so he went back.
I often wonder if I had saved the dog from certain death only to condemn him to a life of misery with bad owners...........I guess I'll never know.
I leapt out of bed, hurriedly got dressed and ventured into the rear garden. The garden was 300 feet long but quite narrow, the fence separating us from the neighbours was three strands of wire that had drooped over the years from tiredness. It was easy to climb through and I made my way toward the stricken animal, I paused and suddenly thought that if this animal was a fox, then I'd have problems extracting it, so I ventured back in the moonless night to get a torch. Armed with a torch I set off again, all was quite. Had it got away? Was it dead? I stopped and listened..... there it was again and it sounded even more desperate. I was now six or seven gardens down and beginning to think how useless I was when I caught sight of this poor creature hanging upside down with one foot caught in the fencing wire. It was a dog and looked pretty scared. I tried to pick him up and turn him back the opposite way he'd got entangled, but he was getting distressed, I lowered him as gently as I could and decided to go back once again, this time for some wire cutters. The dogs reaction to my leaving was heart rending but I had to go. I ran as quickly as I could leaving the dog thinking he'd been abandoned.
When I eventually got back he really was in a bad way, but managed to wag his tail vigorously when I stroked him. He had a look of complete trust in me as I cut him down.
It took me a good ten minutes to cut the fence wires, extricate and eventually set him free. I thought he might run off but he didn't, he just wanted to lick me in return for my help. I carried him to the house and inspected his wounds, they weren't too bad but the wire had cut into his flesh so I bathed them with salt water and gave him something to eat and drink. I noted his address on his collar and decided to return him in the morning.
The house was only a few streets away and didn't take long to find. I explained what had happened to the owners, but they didn't seem that bothered about their dogs welfare. I reluctantly left him there.
The next day after returning from work my wife told me that there was someone waiting for me in the back garden. The dog almost knocked me over as he jumped up and was making the most peculiar noises in an effort to be picked up. He was one very grateful dog but I had to take him back and I told my wife that if he came back once more, I would keep him.
I never saw the dog again.
It wasn't until several years later that my wife told me, that the dog had returned three times but each time she had taken it back to the rightful owner. My wife wasn't an animal lover and besides she had a young baby and a husband to look after, she wasn't prepared to share her small home with a dog, so he went back.
I often wonder if I had saved the dog from certain death only to condemn him to a life of misery with bad owners...........I guess I'll never know.
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