dog in shock?

palaver

Maybe I'm a bit overeacting but nonetheless I'm worried. You know what it's like with a beloved doggie ...

The story is:
Yesterday my dog (beagle x) run anway. When she gets an interesting scent there is no holding her back. That's why she is always on a very long leash (washing line) when out in the not secured garden so that I can catch her more easily if she feels like chasing a car or an 'intruding' person or a cat/rabbit/fox. But usually she comes to me when I call her.

Behind my house there are only fields, most of it brambles and gorse. She got this scent was all excited and before I could catch her despite the 15 m leash she was gone over the wall and into the jungle. I was more worried about the long leash because she could get entangled and caught in the wilderness. Which exactly happened. I heard her barking, howling and eventually wimpering.

Being doggie mammy I grabbed the secateurs (don't have a machete) and followed her voice, fighting my way through man-high brambles, gorse and nettles like Indiana Jones, shouting her name to keep in contact. It took about three hours! I thought I came close but then suddenly her answers stopped. Me, being a bit overimaginative, saw her bleeding to death, being strangled by the bloody leash, attacked by wild boars, tigers, polar bears - dead. I stood in the middle of hostile herbal weapons of dog destruction and cried for my dog.

I faught my way back to the house with torn clothes and scratched all over - and there she was running towards me, the two of us yelping and jumping of joy! She nibbled herself free, the leash was bit through - all the training with my shoes was useful after all!

But: Today she refuses to go outdoors, apart from a pee right in front of the house, usually she is eager to get at least one longish walk a day, doesn't eat and didn't even wake me up in the morning as she usually does. She just rolled up among the cushions on the sofa and sleeps.

She is a bit scratched alright, and I cleaned her up as good as I could. But she stills looks a bit disheveled. Everyone keeps telling me that 'she'll be grand', but still, a whole day as listless as that is very unusual for her lively self. She isn't even interested in her favourite treats.

Has anyone out there some comfort reagarding the state of her? Or should I go to the vet next week? Or am I just really overcautious?

And sorry for rambling on, but I was really upset by the thought of loosing her.

Our man in Havana

Please do not take this as offensive but why oh why do you have a dog that loves to run off in an unsecured garden?

Re the shock if you have rescue remedy a couple of drops on the tongue should help.

Has she eaten at all? She may have eaten something whilst she was out - lots of people lay poision around - I would be at the vet tomrorrow if she is still listless!

andrawolf

I agree with bond.Please do something with your garden to stop her from gettin out. She is in shock. try a hot water bottle and make sure if she is not eatin that she is drinkin. she will came around with a bit of tlc.:D as bond said too if there was no change take her to the vet. please don't use a washing line to tye her up you can get 15m leads that you can attach to some thing. but please fix your garden. she is your resonablity and If any thing had have happened to her it would be hard to live with:o

houndsoflove

She probably chased a wild animal like a fox or even a cat, and the animal scratched her and she got a fright because she expected the animal to run away from her.

Bring her to the vet anyway to be sure

Nicola.

dollydishmop

What colour are her gums? Should be salmon pink, and go white momentarily when you press them. *Gently* pull down her lower eyelid, the skin inside should be the same colour as her gums.
If the colour is any paler than you would like, forget going to the vet 'next week'...go NOW!

What's her temperature?

Is she eating/drinking ok? Are you sure about this?

She could well be in mild shock. If her colour is OK, and she's otherwise fine bar being a little quiet, then she's probably just feeling a little sorry for herself.
If she was mine, and her colour was fine, then I'd just pamper her today and see how she is tomorrow.

Huggles

Bond-007 wrote:

Please do not take this as offensive but why oh why do you have a dog that loves to run off in an unsecured garden?

I have to agree here. if you love her as much as you say you do, and it looks like you do from reading the post. Invest in securing your garden.

From my own experience (I have 4 dogs), they will be nervous after a trauma like that and will eventually come around. Jut keep cuddling her and loving her and make a big fuss of her, she will be ok eventually.

Maybe get her a toy and play in the garden with her?

Let us know how it goes, and please please secure your garden.

EDIT: Just thought of this, check inside her pads and her ears for torns and stuff too. My inquisitive Scottie was very depressed about 6 weeks ago and we couldn't figure out why. Took him to the and it seems on one of his adventures in the wooded backgarden a tick got into the top of his ear. Vet removed and he was ok after awhile. She could have gotten a tick or something in the brambles and gorse you described. Check her thoroughly and take her to the Vet if she doesn't perk up.

palaver

Thanks for all your concern.

She is coming round, being almost her usual cheeky self again. The advice with the gums was reassuring: I checked and they were okay. Though she is scratched all over from the bloody brambles & gorse. But so am I and we'll get over it. And yes, I cleaned her scratches and watch for inflammation.

Why I have a dog who likes to run away? Well, she usually doesn't run away. She always stays near me and the house. And she is not a designer dog with custom made traits, she is a rescue who was in a terrible state when I got her. It took me six months to build up her confidence and her trust.

The advice to secure my garden is a bit late, isn't it? Lock the stable door after the horse ....
To secure the garden is not possible anyway. It's a small group of houses in the country with sort of open plan gardens, that is no walls or hedges between the properties. The whole layout and geography is not made for walling in. There is a low dry-stone wall around all of the houses with an open entrance driveway.

I don't tie her up, I just let her roam the place with the leash on, when other (not familiar) people are around. It's easier to catch her when she feels she has to bark at them like mad because she sees them as intruders. Some people are afraid of dogs and I don't want any trouble in this regard.

Anyway, I'm glad that her strange adventure didn't have any serious consequences - and she already nicked my yoghurt I let on the coffee table while I'm writing this ... :rolleyes:

Alfasudcrazy

Have you considered a radio signal fence and collar - might not work too well on an open plan garden but I always fear dogs being retained on long leads ever since I saw a poor dog hang herself accidentally on her own lead. (Not my dog I hasten to add)
The radio fence works great with my dogs and is invisible as its only a wire run about an inch under ground around your property.

Be at least sure that if she jumps up that there is nothing for the lead to snag on.

SuzyS1972

No dog is custom made and no designer dog does what it says on the box

Mine are terriers and NO way would they stay put - a dog is a dog is a dog rescue or not - beagles are bred to hunt and in my experience the hardest dogs to teach recall to - once they get a whiff they are off - my dog is only half beagle so I know what I'm talking about.

Keep her on the leash !

palaver

A radio signal fence isn't a solution either because that would considerably scale down her territory and it's not really doable around the whole mini-estate. She loves to roam around the houses, her little boyfriend (a bitesize terrier from neighbours) comes visiting to play and generally I'd rather see her happy frolicking around than being contained.

But I'm in the lucky position to work from home and in my own time so I can supervise her roaming and being out and about as often as she needs or wants (does me a lot of good too ). Bit harder in the winter but then she hates bad weather too and refuses to go out at all. Spoiled brat...

I keep her on the very long leash because it's some sort of freedom but she is still under control. I know about the interesting sniffs and her trying to run after a rabbit while out walking. The leash helps. It's a pity but then you have to compromise somehow.

But I certainly will never leave her running around with the leash while I'm doing something else! It was a real scare!
The dog of one of my neighbours hanged himself because he was tied up, tried to jump over the wall, the leash was to short, you'll get the picture. I always keep that in mind.

Thanks again for support and advice!

peasant

The long lead actually is a great tool to train for recall.

For this your dog would need a good, strong and comfortable harness, not a collar, that would cause injuries. The lead could possibly be even a bit longer (longer than she's used to, anyway) and you shouldn't be afraid of falling on your schnozzel

The trick is to let her forget the lead, let her take off, then recall her (which of course she will ignore) ...only to run full whack into the lead and be stopped as if by magic. The skill is to sound the command juuust before the "invisible hand of God" stops her run.

This has two advantages ...you learn to read your dog and she learns that there is no escaping your command and will eventually stop when you tell her.

As she already has tasted freedom, this will be a long training period. Don't let her fool you with a few initial successes. Until your command has been proven to work time after time and without fail can you start believing that your dog has "recall".

It is recommended to introduce a special command for training and later use ...no "here" or "come", because these get use too often, but something like "stop" or "halt".

Training should be as often as possible and at varying distances (otherwise the dog will learn how long the lead is and only start running once you can't step on it any more )

Here's a link giving some further info:
http://www.hundezeitung.de/ausbildung/schleppleine.html

Unfortunately it's in German (but I'm sure the OP will manage:D )

palaver

peasant, I know all about "schleppleine", the towing line, if that's an understandable translation, that's what I tried to teach her and tried to explain with the very long washing line plus even longer extensions for training. I let her run with the leash and if she doesn't hear with her floppy-selective-hearing-ears I step on the line, clap my hands twice and calling her name and shout No No. When she comes to me she gets a right belly rub and a little treat. It worked by now with only clapping my hands and without stepping on the leash.

That's why I let her run on the lawns without looking while harvesting my apples and when she run towards the back wall I clapped, shouted No No, but off she went. That was in the two years I have her a first and very unusual. And there was no other animal in sight. I still wonder what caught her attention. I suspect something, but that's another story.

Believe me, I'm not that scared falling on my "schnozzel" :cool: ! I did it more often than I like to admit. When she is happily circling around me with her long leash and my feet got caught - oh dear, once I run around with a red-black-blue-yellow eye for weeks . I had to explain to neighbours that it was the dog, not the door ...

The harness is a good idea though. Next time in town I'll buy one.

Edit (addition): She got a lot of TLC over the weekend, the two of us having afternoon naps on the bed or sofa, having gentle walks and feeding ourselves with favourite treats. Not good for the waistline (for the two of us) but a real feelgood factor. Now she seems to think this will go on forever. I wonder who trains whom?

peasant

ahh ...preaching to the converted, so

Btw, Beagles are very "nosey" dogs, there needn't be anything in sight for them to get the impulse to run off. If anything, a strong "whiff" would probably be the better incentive. A fox passing just out of sight or an interesting trail from last night will do.