Baby loved to go exploring up in the hills beyond the field with Brian, Punkin, and Springer Spaniel Hunter. Those hills were her own little Afghanistan. The next river valley in the distance is the Teton. Most of our wheat farmground can be seen in "strips" on the bench beyond. Then the Missouri River valley cuts through, with more farmground extending back to the volcanically extruded Square Butte, Round Butte, and the Highwood Mountains on the horizon.
9 MAR 07
Every day I take year-old Afghan Hounds Punkin and Baby and their Springer Spaniel friend Hunter for a run on my bike. I used to go for walks but the Afghans never got any exercise at my walking speed, once they got bigger. Last Saturday we started over toward my parents' house a quarter mile away, as we have done several hundred times since last May. Baby led Punkin over the river bank - which I thought was not a good idea. I pedalled over and saw them running on the iced over river, less than a hundred feet away. It finally warmed up today to 45degrees F and they were especially enjoying the warmer weather. There was an open channel in the middle of the river. I saw Baby take a flying leap across a 15-foot open section but when she came down, the ice broke out from under her and into the water she went. Afghans are not good swimmers because they have such large lung capacity that it keeps them too vertical in the water. She swam over to this ice edge with her head high out of the water and her long thin front legs windmilling through the air and water. She was trying to get back up on the ice but I knew there was no way she could do it by herself. I also knew the river was only about 4 feet deep and so I ran down the river bank and out to where she went in - watching my step to be sure the ice would support me.
When I got to the edge of the ice and looked up, she had disappeared. In disbelief, I took a closer look and fell through the edge of the ice. Even though the water was only 4 feet deep, I got completely submerged because I was off balance when the ice gave way. When I got back on my feet, I noticed someone who had been driving on the road across the river had stopped, seeing me in the water and Punkin and Hunter on the ice. I was able to pull myself back up on the ice after several tries and they left. I saw a little bit of dark fur floating down the open channel. I ran down and jumped back in the river and grabbed Baby. I was able to throw her up on the ice and drag myself out again. I never considered that she could drown so quickly - in the water less than 30 seconds it seemed - but it must have been several minutes. I held her upside down for a few seconds to clear her lungs and tried to give her chest compressions to get her breathing again, calling her name, but there was nothing. I thought if I could get her over to my parents and get her warmed up, I could save her. I carried her over to the river bank which was about eight feet high. Because we were both soaking wet, and the warm (45deg. F) day had made the steep bank a muddy mess, it was very hard to get up high enough to throw her 50-pound body up over the edge. I then struggled to climb out myself - holding onto sagebrush branches to finally get myself back up on top.
Looking down on her, I realized it was too late for Baby - in emotional shock that her little life was so fragile. I looked back and saw Hunter in the water where I had pulled Baby out. I had used every ounce of energy getting back up the river bank and knew there was no way I could rescue him. I couldn't carry Baby either, so I plodded the hundred yards over to my parents house. I told them Baby had drowned and Hunter was in the water, struggling to get back up on the ice. We drove a long way around to get back to where Baby's body lay and met Hunter on the way. He had apparently floated/swam down to where the water was shallow enough for him to climb up on the ice. Although the water must have been cold, having flowed under the ice for many miles, I never felt cold - even after I went home and changed out of my soaking wet clothes.
We are just devastated. I never realized how emotionally attached a person could be to such a young pet. Baby was such an athlete. When we came home from work every day, she would repeatedly jump four feet straight up in the air while we were walking over to let her and her sister out of their pen. She could easily outrun the larger Punkin and loved to chase rabbits, deer, play tag with Punkin, and just run. Baby knew she could jump across the open water today and it did her in. We are so heart-broken. We had taken the girls to agility training, practice dog shows, and practiced agility and show walking every day for months. Since October, we took them the the hospital/nursing home in Fort Benton nearly every Sunday afternoon. Last Sunday, everyone asked, "Where's Baby?" It was another sad time.
I had to give Baby and Punkin showers before those Sunday afternoon visits to the hospital. Baby never liked the shower on her head so I poured water over her from a glass. She always shivered afterward and we wrapped her in a towel to warm her after toweling her off. It makes me feel so bad that she died in the water.
