Dog Emergency Stories Helped by being Prepared

We had a contest awhile ago where we asked you to share some of your worst and craziest accidents you have encountered with your dog(s). And while some of your stories were absolutely scary, it is a reminder that our dogs can get into jams and we need to be prepared with emergency plans and first aid. You can read more about how to stock a doggie first aid kit here.

Meanwhile, we are sharing the best stories to help everyone think ahead and plan for the worst.

Nadine Chounet shared:

My BC was on an outrun (on 5.5 acres) through woods and ledge on a search for a few missing sheep, and though the errant sheep came back she did not – I immediately started searching for her using a second dog, and found her struggling to return with a huge 8″ gash the length of her abdomen. The wound was dirty and full of bits of twigs and debris. I performed emergency first aid and bound her up using items out of the first aid kit I keep for the horses/sheep and headed for the vet. After emergency surgery to close her abdomen and untold numbers of stitches inside and out, and some long-term R&R,she pulled through just fine and is back to being my main working dog. I would love a first aid guide to go along with my own emergency kit. Thank you.

Courtenay shared:

At the beach, suddenly I’ve got a bleeding dog! I still don’t know what he cut the bottom of his pad off with. It was pretty scary!

Kathy shared:

A doggie first aid kit is something I have thought about getting but have not gotten around too yet. And as my Border Collie mix just cut her nose while rooting around the wood pile for some mice, I think now would be a good time to finally get one.

Maydog shared:

A couple of months ago my dog cut her paw pad pretty deep on some metal laying in the grass. To help release some energy the night before an upcoming agility trial I let my dog go play with our neighbors dog. Little did I know that there was stray metal laying in the grass and my dog’s paw was bleeding everywhere with a deep cut in the main pad. After being pulled from the trial, stitched and glued numerous times I still feel that if I would have known exactly how to handle the situation it wouldn’t have been so stressful for her. I would love to feel more confident with first aid techniques if they should arise.

Linda Nevard shared:

I sure could have used doggy first aid info when my little Malteepoo was bitten by a coyote. He had swelling around the sights and the only thing I could think of was to take a drawing salve that I used myself and applied it to the wounds. The big one burst and then I put Neosporin on the areas. I got him to the Vet who said that was a good effort. There was nothing more to do except make sure all his shots were up to date. I was lucky that time but it sure would have been better if I knew what to do in an emergency.

Allison Moss shared:

I made up my own 1st aid kit and carry it any time we travel. A couple of years ago, my “always into something” Bichon, Mattie, raided a friends purse and ate gum containing Xylitol. I immediately gave her hydrogen peroxide from the kit, to induce vomiting and rushed her to the vet. He said if I hadn’t been able to induce the vomiting immediately, she probably wouldn’t have made it. Needless to say, no one is allowed in my house now with anything “sugarless”!

DustyDuckDog shared:

While pheasant hunting in S.D., Dusty ran into a barred wire fence in pursuit of a bird. When I got to her, she had blood on the side of her face and eye. I was frantic with fear that she had injured her eye. Upon closer examination, we discovered that she had cut the end of her ear and by shaking her head, Dusty had gotten the blood on her face and in her eye. Much relieved that Dusty’s eye was OK, we still had to address the Problem of the bleeding ear. I always carried a dog first aid kit with me in the field and this was one time I was glad I had it.

Lisa H shared:

One of my 2 border collies is stick obsessed and despite my efforts to stop the behavior, others always want to throw him sticks. Once he got a gash to the chest that required antibiotics, and another time he got an enormous gash in his side that required surgery & antibiotics which may have been stick related – either it was in his mouth and he ran into something so it bent back or he was running in the woods and was cut (I was at work when both happened). 1st aid kits would be useful. Also, for great detailed health info go to The Modern Dog website – a blogger who is a vet wrote a series on assessing your dog’s health, system by system, and its worth printing out for future reference.

WellMannered shared:

We live in Southern MO where we have a lot of hilly, rocky ground. I always try to run the dogs in our pastures as they are much more grassy and we try to keep the rocks out. 🙂 However, one day we were playing fetch and Ruger came back with a bloody paw print. I checked his paw and found a pretty nasty gash (most likely from a sharp rock). I thankfully keep a small first aid kit on the 4wheeler and got him cleaned and bandaged.I also have worked as a Vet Tech for a number of years, so I knew how to handle this. It healed quite nicely and we were back to playing fetch within about 10 days.

Eden Le Bouton shared:

I carry a animal first aid kit with me and I needed it when my dogs and I were hiking in one of the Metro Parks. An itty bitty dog stepped on a pricker and it was stuck pretty far in between his pads. I had disinfectant that I sprayed on his paw and tweezers to pull out the pricker. I put antibiotic salve on his paw and wrapped it in one of those stretchy clothes that was put on my arm after a blood donation. The dog’s mom could carry him so he didn’t have to walk on his paw. He was such a sweetie. He gave me a kiss on the nose when it was all over.

You never know when you may run into an emergency with your dog or someone else’s. Being prepared is the the best idea for keeping you and your dogs as stress free as possible if and when an emergency should happen.