Piper’s latest Misadventure

Yesterday, August 17^th I set off with Piper for his usual walk, this time making sure he remained on the lead, so he did not get distracted by the scent of rabbits.  I took a variation of the route, avoiding crossing the stream, as it had poured down overnight and the stream would be much fuller.   Piper trotted happily along with me beside bushes and across the fields until suddenly he stopped and held his front leg up!  I had a look at his paw but could see nothing wrong.  I felt his leg which he was licking furiously and he yelped and lay down on the grass!! I took off his longer lead and put on his short lead to see if that would get him up, but he just did not want to walk.  I had to heave him up and carry him up the incline of the field stopping to rest at intervals as he had become a dead weight and was very heavy. As I got near to the road I tried my mobile phone but it told me that rhere was no Sim!  I climbed over the stile to the road and Picked Piper up again.  I saw a lady across the road and as soon it was safe to cross I carried Piper over.  I asked her if she had a mobile phone I could borrow to ring my son in law Ken, whose number was on my phone but it would not ring from the lady’s phone. We then tried to ring a taxi to take me and Piper home, but instead we got the office of St Michael’s Hospice, so I asked the lady if she could ring for a taxi to pick us up and explained where we were.  I waited for a number of minutes, when the lady with whom I had been speaking arrived and insisted on taking us to the vet.  That was my second good Samaritan.

I was told to wait until there was a space to fit Piper in at Shamrock, the vets.  Fortunately the main vet came down, intrigued to see why Piper was limping.  He soon found out that nothing was strained or broken, but Piper who had greeted him with a wag, yelped when he touched the leg, obviously in a lot of pain.  He took him through to a better lit room and they managed to pull something out of his leg.  Finding the leg inflamed he cleaned the area and injected him with a painkiller and antibiotics.  The vet took the offending article upstairs to look at it under the microscope and found it was a bee sting!  I got a taxi home from a helpful taxi driver; not all taxis take dogs, but he had a rescue greyhound. Once home Piper limped in to see his master.  My beloved gave him much loving care so he recuperated, occasionally limping across the room or following me and Brian as we went to the summerhouse to share a time of prayer.

We were not sure if he would manage a walk that evening, but after initially hobbling he walked more normally on his affected leg, but he was more tired than usual, so did not have a long walk!  Today fully recovered he chose a different route avoiding the offending field!  He still pulled me at speed through bushes and trees in Hookstone Wood; he was back on form!!  At one point he was intent on going into a garden, from where I pulled him out; he had a dead squirrel in his mouth, which I insisted he dropped!!