Help Derby Recover

Derby had a Rough Night... and he could use your help right now. Any small amount would help towards this significant and unexpected cost. Anything raised beyond Derby's emergency medical expenses I will be donating to the Italian Greyhound Rescue Northwest which is where we adopted him as a puppy 8 years ago.

Derby is now out of surgery as of 12:30pm today. He is alive. He is lucky. The surgeon believes, based on the wounds he was attacked last night in our yard by a coyote, in Lake Forest Park. My wife has said someone reported a coyote sighting very recently in Lake Forest Park. If you live in or close proximity to Lake Forest Park or Kenmore, please consider keeping a closer watch on your pets (day or night) due to this recent occurrence. Derby is about 15-18 pounds, and a very fast dog. Derby will need to stay in the vet hospital through tonight but might get to come home tomorrow. I will keep this post updated on his status and outlook.

If you want to hear the more detailed story of last night, I've written it below. Mostly as a way for me to cope with what I just experienced, but also to provide you a real and graphic account of something I hope no one else would ever have to experience. [warning: graphic pictures at end]

This was our night.. this was our story...

I wouldn't normally ask for help like this but I want to do whatever I can for Derby and I know others might feel the same way. Derby is our grey and white Italian Greyhound we adopted ironically exactly 8 years ago today, when he was 8 months old. I admit he is not the smartest dog in the world but he is a lover. He has lovingly welcomed home both of my kids (now ages 4 and 2) from the hospital when they were born with gentle licks, he loves snuggling with friends, and he loves long naps in warm blankets.

Last night he had a really bad experience. He woke me up at 1am like he typically does at random times during the night to go potty (even though he always goes before bedtime). I stumbled out of bed, out the door through the living room to open the exterior door to our backyard with him following close behind. Typically it's 50/50, he'll either go quickly and dart back in, or he'll delay a bit and let out a few barks because he can smell the night time animals. This time I heard him start barking, but then I heard something I've never heard him do. I heard a very distraught cry. I questioned what I thought I heard and walked outside...silence... I yelled for him, a moment of silence followed by a bark and another long distraught cry.

Here comes Derby, I could see him running and screaming, and not really running that well, more of a fast waddle in the dark. He darted by me at the door and inside. Me trying to get a handle on the situation looked down to see tons of dark spots appear as he ran by. I thought to myself oh shit is that blood? Flipped on the light... yep. I start running inside after Derby still hearing him screaming...barking...crying... I don't even know how to describe the sound really, but I knew he needed help. I raced up the stairs following the blood trail trying to get to him. Through the kitchen and caught up to him in the dinning room and jumped to the ground to grab him.

He was bleeding heavily from the neck and front right shoulder. I sandwiched my body on top of him to get control and see if I could figure out what the hell had happened. He quickly moved in between two states of being: a) letting me hold him down and calm him, my hands soaked heavily in his blood, and b) fiercely trying to bite me as if his life depended on it. We went back and forth like this for what seemed liked several minutes before I could figure out my next move...

Typically my wife and 2 kids would be home. Typically one or both of our kids might have even found their way into our bed at this time. This was just a rare situation where they decided to stay in North Bend last night so my wife could start Day 1 at a new job (on her typical day off - Wednesday). So here I am, upstairs, straddling my bloody dog, who's crying for help in a rage of panic, no one to hear my yells for help. Yells that are only happening in my head because I know there's nobody home to hear them. I think to myself, thank god my kids are not here to see this...to watch this... with the noises happening my son would have surely been upstairs by now. That's not an easy sight to explain to a 4 year old. Hell it was a hard sight for me as a 40 year old. That's not a memory I would want him to have at such an early age. He's seen dead animals, we've had talks about life and death, but this was a different level, this was personal.

So I'm thinking to myself, I need help... I need to get to my phone (it's downstairs)... I need to stop his bleeding... oh wait.. I left the door open downstairs... what did this to him.? what if it was someone in the yard he spooked...? what if these are stab wounds...? shit I need to arm myself... I need to shut the door at least...how can I let him go he's bleeding out... I need something to stop the bleeding...

This whole time I'm using my hands to put pressure while trying to talk to him, keep him calm, not get bit, I remember there are some kitchen towels in a drawer like 3 feet from me, I can barely reach the doors, I reach back and dig for one. In hand I wrap it slowly around his neck trying to be calm and get it pulled tighter... I know I need to go for my phone, I know I need more help... he's bleeding everywhere. Every time I try to see the bigger wound through the blood (on the side that is facing down) he loses it, so I can't tell how bad it is. All I see, and feel, and smell, is blood. I start telling him I'm sorry that I don't think I can save him, that I don't think he's going to make it. I 'm telling him this out loud in a calming and sorrowful voice. I feel like the life is leaving him, I'm just watching him, waiting for him to stop moving altogether, I feel the end is near as he is laying there kind of lifeless at this point, I'm watching his eyes, he seems like he is fading away, I keep repeating how I'm sorry I can't stop it, that I can't save him...

I have no idea how much time has passed, it seems like forever... I know I have to get my phone, if there is any chance at all left, I have to get him help right now. I tell him to just stay still, I'll be right back, I don't expect him to stay still.. I slowly motioned away and let go of him, ready to jump on him if he bolted up... he did not move... I took my chance, I dashed down the stairs. Don't remember a single step on the way down or back up but in that time I managed to shut and lock the downstairs door, put pants on (was in my underwear that whole time), grabbed my phone off the side table and was back in the kitchen in what seemed like a split second as I was already dialing 911.

Back on top of Derby now, frantically talking to 911, telling them I don't know what happened, but my dog went outside in the yard, he came back in severely bleeding. I don't know if someone was in the yard or if it was an animal. At this point since I'm holding the phone with one bloody hand, I only have my body and one bloody arm trying to keep pressure on Derby, and the new position must have been bad because he is literally screaming as loud as possible, right into the phone as I'm trying to talk to the person, tell them my address, I'm pretty sure the 911 person asked me if that was the dog or a person. It's the dog! It sounded like a person, I'm all alone I say, I need help right now, please send the cops.

She asks me if I'm armed (I think to myself...not yet, no time for that)... No, I'm not armed I say. Can you get to the door to unlock it when the police get there? Yes, I can make that happen I say... She tells me they are coming and puts me on hold. Derby gets loose some how. I lose him in the shadows of the dining room. I can't see him, then suddenly see him hobbling towards the front door. Great I think, I needed to get over there anyways. I get to him and hold him down again right next to the front door. Waiting for cops...waiting... waiting... definitely ready for someone to get here.

I see headlights out front, I'm right next pinned up against the front door so I reach up and start flipping the front porch light on and off, on and off, to get their attention, maybe hurry it up a bit. They approach cautiously, I can tell they are scanning the surroundings, I open the door and we start discussing the situation. I'm telling them to go check the yard. I'm asking the other one if he can go in the bathroom in the hall and get some towels... what do you want me to do? bring me some towels... grab some towels I say... He does. They see the dog, they see me on the dog, they hear the dog. they see the blood...

One of them says it was a raccoon, saying he saw one bolting out the back yard. He says we need to put a tourniquet on the dog, he says can we make that happen? I said sure, he's going to bite you though. Normally there would be a lot of fight in Derby if strangers came in the house like that at 1am, there was some fight in him...but not much. I said I'll hold this towel over his head, I'll make sure he doesn't bite you. I'm waiting for him to wrap that thing... he says here it's got to go around... I'm like I know let's do it... he says it's not going to work... I think to myself, oh you wanted me to do it... well can't hold him down and wrap it too so yep... plan B... The other one is like, I can drive you to a vet. I say let's do it. I wrap Derby up in the much bigger towel I have, bolt into my office, put on my flip flops as I ask the cop to grab my keys and wallet on the desk...

I turn the corner, out the door. I look back and I see the cop trying to lock my door on the way out (that's thoughtful)... I have several keys, he ain't finding that quick, I yell which one it is! I'm in the back seat now, clutching Derby, he brings my keys and wallet and sets it in the back on the floor and we are off. Down the road a little bit I hear them come over the radio and say the vet we were heading to can treat him but can't admit him, they are full. The cop driving hears it and says to me, he's going to need to be admitted, I'm taking you to this other place I've taken my dog, they will be open. We change directions.

At this point I'm just trying to comfort him, he's not making any noises really. I'm whispering to him, I can only see his nose sticking out of the towel. About half way there I start to feel him be even quieter, I can't hear him breathing, I can't feel him breathing... his paws which are also sticking out of this towel look motionless to me, a little limp even... I think he might be dead in my arms. I softly tell the cop, I don't know man, he's not moving... I don't know if he's going to make it... I don't know if he's alive anymore. I didn't want to move my hold on him at all and check, I just kept hugging him, keeping him close to my chest in my arms.

We pull up to the vet, I've already told him a couple more times in a calm voice, I don't know if he's alive... I don't know if he's going to make it. I can feel that he hears me. I can feel he is a dog lover. I can tell he feels bad for Derby... bad for me. Someone opens my door in scrubs, I step out, I can hear a sound, the first sound I heard in awhile, very faint, but a sound. She reaches to grab him from me. I say he's lost a lot of blood. She says I can tell. She says we'll take him... thank you...

A little bit distraught, someone else comes back out and hands me a form and pen. As I'm filling it out, hands dark read, I hear the cop say, hey I know your up here with no vehicle, If you want to call us, after you're done here, if I'm not on a call, I'm happy to come back up here and take you home, just let us know.

thank you... I said

[WARNING: graphic but real photos below]