Jack Russell Story Jack Russell Story
Story Name: Trouble and the Coyote
From: Nancy Woodside
My Jack Russell Story:
We had just moved to the high desert in Southern California. It was the morning after the first night we had spent in the new home that we had built. We had not had time to build a fence around the property and there was miles of untamed desert around us. My boyfriend, at the time, and the dogs were outside. I was in the kitchen doing the breakfast dishes. From my kitchen window I could see Trouble, my JRT, and her adopted daughter, Foggy Moon, running around chasing ground squirrels. The next thing I knew I saw Trouble running for the door with Dave running after her yelling "Pick her up, Pick her up"!!!! By this time I was starting to panic. I opened the door and immediately she headed for me practically climbing up my leg for me to pick her up. I reached down and saw that she was bleeding several places. I put her into the sink all the time yelling at Dave to find out what had happened. The two dogs had seen a couple of coyotes and had took off running after them. Once they got there the fight was on. When Foggy Moon saw that she was going to have a real confrontation she turned and headed for home (she is not a JRT). The last time Dave had seen Trouble, the coyote was running away carrying her by the stomach. He chased them for awhile and the coyote lost him. He was walking back to the house to tell me that Trouble had been abducted when she came charging past him as fast as her little legs would take her. Mean while back in the sink, trying not to panic, I tried to assess the damage. You could tell where the coyote had grabbed her. Just under her lip with the other tooth just missing her juggler vein and two wounds on her back. There was lots of blood and trying to keep my cool I proceeded to clean her wounds (I am very sensitive especially when it come to animals, especially my JRT) It was then I noticed that she had a very large lump in her lower tummy. I lost it. This was my best friend and I knew that by looking at it there was major damage of some kind. Since I was in no shape to drive Dave grabbed her and rushed her to the vet. It was Saturday, we were in a new, very small town. If he had to go into the city he would have at least thirty miles to drive. Since we couldn't leave the house open I stayed there, with no phone. I cried hysterically for the first two hours, the next two hours I walked the floor. At half past the fifth hour I heard the truck coming up the drive. I rushed out to meet it. It was then I noticed that Trouble was not in the vehicle. I prepared myself for the worst. Dave then explained that when he got into town the local vet was unexpectedly in his office checking on another ill animal. He rushed Trouble into the operating room and immediately did surgery. When the coyote grabbed her by her tummy he ripped one of her intestines out of place, causing a type of hernia. He was able to repair the damage but she would spend the night in the hospital. The next twenty four hours would tell if she would make it or not. It was one of the worst nights of my life. I really wanted to be by her side, in case she didn't make it. When I called the next day (as soon as they opened) They told me I could come and pick her up. I rushed down there not really prepared for the damage that was done to my little JRT. She had stitches in each of the other wounds, a total of eight, but that didn't count for the other twenty-two stitches in her tummy. Now those of you who are JRT owners know how small their little tummys are, this poor pup was covered with stitches. It was a long road but Trouble recovered, but after that she never seemed to be her peppy self, she was nine years old when this happened, and the vet contributed it to her age. Not that she wasn't healthy she just went a little slower and was a little more cautious.
Trouble is now sixteen years old and I know her days with me are numbered. She gets a little more senile each day, although healthy. Her legs are starting to bother her and I have made a handicap ramp to allow her access to the bed. I have also bought her a stroller and continue to take her every where I can. Where I can’t get the stroller I carry her. I get a lot of help from my “Good Friends” (our four wheel drive group) carrying her places. She is almost blind now and we shake big sticks in the bushes so she will think there is a critter there she needs to hunt. Regardless she spends most of her time sleeping. It is hard seeing my beloved Trouble slowing down.