When you bring home that new four legged member of the family you start on a journey. It’s a journey that explores your humanity and empathy and I like to think gives you a chance to make a positive impact on an animal that may be down on their luck. When times are good; they are great. Every so often though something unexpected comes your way and it’s your job as an owner (some may even say ‘parent’) to answer the call. This is a story of one such time.
It was the first week of September at the Paul and Verna Winkleman dog park in Beaverton. My one dog; Marley, was having a blast running around the perimeter and meeting new dogs. Odin and I were playing a serious game of fetch with a tennis ball we had found. After about 10 minutes of some camera worthy mid air catches the unimaginable happens.
Odin jumped about as high as I had ever seen him jump before and ripped this tennis ball right out of the air. Sadly the little guy’s landing was anything but good. Odin came down on his rear right leg in such a way that he was not getting back up. Within seconds my happy- go- lucky dog was incapacitated and barking frantically at the bottom of the park.
As soon as he hit the ground and let out his first few barks I knew this wasn’t going to be a small injury that we would be walking away from. I felt surprisingly calm during the experience as I ran down the hill to him. When I picked up Odin he immediately stopped barking and rested his head on my shoulder and I very quickly felt the weight of my responsibility.
The next hour felt very uncertain. I called my veterinarian and asked if Odin could be seen as soon as possible which they obliged. Even with an injury like a potentially broken leg he would not sit still and picking him up and placing him down was nerve racking. Needless to say when I got to the veterinarian’s office I felt very out of sorts.
I felt guilty. I remember thinking “Why didn’t we just stop at the ball before that ball?” I didn’t want to be seen as a negligent owner. These are all ridiculous thoughts to have in hindsight but in the moment I felt as if I blew it. Walking in the door at Bethany Family Pet Clinic I braced myself for the worst.
The level of empathy and care of the staff towards Odin and myself were top notch. Dr. Healy checked him out and got his X-ray results. Odin had not one, but two fractures. I would be leaving him there and he would be getting a cast that day. I returned a few hours later to good news and my new temporary tripod dog. He even had his own superhero “O” emblem on his cast; which I thought was a nice touch.
Odin and I would be back to the veterinarian’s office about once a week for the next two months (as of writing this we are still going back for cast checkups). Since then we’ve had two superhero themed casts, a “Harry Potter” themed cast, and the current “Halloween” cast that is complete with a haunted house, pumpkins, ghosts, and more. I’ve had great connections with the staff over Odin as well and they have made every effort to make his visits as stress free as possible. Thanks to everyone at Bethany Family Pet Clinic for continuing to show me that human compassion makes the difference not only for your Odin's experience but also for my own.