Posted on 08/18/2012 11:45:21 AM PDT by ColdOne
You’ve been in that position? A 14,000’ peak, rough terrain, and a storm moving in? And you went back to look for the dog days later, somewhere on the mountainside?
Did you find the dog? “Several times”, in your own words?
I’ve had dogs get loose. One took 3 days to find, and that was all in level terrain within a couple of miles of my house. The other made it back after a day...he probably never went more than a mile from my house, although I wasn’t able to find him.
Here is how another article describes the terrain:
“Mount Bierstadt in Clear Creek County, a 14,000-foot peak near Denver that is categorized as a “14er” because, as Washburn said, “the peak is over 14,000 feet high and considered a Class 3, meaning it is not the most difficult – but it’s too difficult for a dog to be on it or an inexperienced person.”
So are you saying that an owner cannot be guilty of cruelty because he owns the dog?
“...and leaving a loved one to die — alone and afraid — in the cold and the wild.”
A dog that weighs over 100 lbs, on a 14,000’ mountain?
If the dog refuses to move, and you don’t have both special equipment and lots of help, then the dog AIN’T coming down. If it were me, I would go back, but it would take blind luck to find the dog a few days after the storm. The rescuers were only able to do so because the dog became too weak to move on its own from where one person stumbled upon it.
Thanks, I’d not seen that in any of the articles I’d read.
Holy crap. What a turd this dog owner is.
He just left it to die.
Hopefully the cruelty charges will make sure the dog stays with the rightful owner, the one who cared enough for it to rescue it.
All 4 of my pack are pound puppies; got old Jack 12 years ago, and will never understand why I waited 5 years after my old Rolly died to find Jack. Honey is 2 years old now and was scheduled to die in the pound because she had a lot of health problems when I found her. I always tell my wife that Honey represents my brand shiny new M1A rifle that I was saving all that money for, still think I got the better deal. George and Sophie are the new kids and still learning the ropes. Sophie and George treed a bear last week that was trying to raid the chicken house, little bit of #6 shot sent it packing though. GOOD BOYS AND GIRLS.
This guy is just blowing smoke!
A dog that weighs over 100 lbs, on a 14,000’ mountain?
Again: "[...] for most folks..."
Well, I'm one that can speak from that position. I went through a flood, lost everything, but was able to rescue our dog that was literally floating down the road.
The man could have gone back to check on his dog, but chose not to. He has now given up all rights to that dog, IMO.
Stop defending the indefensible!
The other men went back the next morning. He could have done the same but did not. As one who has been owned by four beloved dogs over my life time, I cannot even imagine leaving that beautiful dog without knowing his fate and trying to save him. God Bless the men who cared enough to do what needed to be done.
“There’s a vast, yawning and (for most folks, at any rate) readily comprehensible difference between someone dying of natural causes, and leaving a loved one to die — alone and afraid — in the cold and the wild.”
Yes, yes, there is and I’m guilty! About 5 years ago the day before Thanksgiving, UPS or someone left my gate open. About half an hour had passed when I realized my little dog hadn’t come back to the door and I discovered the open gate. She was a rescue critter and now she was getting old and crippled, so I thought she couldn’t have gotten far. This was a very remote, wooded area.
Everyone had already left for the Holiday, so there was no one to help me look and it was getting cold. My back was not doing well, so I grabbed my staff and started looking. Not a sign, no one had seen her. I looked until it was too dark. Then it snowed. I felt like the biggest loser on earth!
The next day, I started looking again, up and down those hills. Needless to say Thanksgiving dinner never happened for me. I delivered my pies, borrowed my son’s dog who did pick up her trail but the trail just seemed to ‘end’. We searched again until dark. And it snowed again.
I was never able to find out what happened to that poor critter. I put up fliers, ran ads, all the usual stuff. She was kinda cute, so I hope someone just took her home.
I would have gone back, but I would NOT have expected success.
“Washburn and his wife were incredulous at how this dog, tucked into a tiny nook between rocks, could have ended up where it was.”
It would have required blind luck to come across the dog like that. The owner could have hiked for a month and never had a hint of where the dog ended up.
When the rescuers went back, they knew where to look because the dog could no longer move. That wasn’t true of the original owner.
The next day, I started looking again, up and down those hills. Needless to say Thanksgiving dinner never happened for me. I delivered my pies, borrowed my son’s dog who did pick up her trail but the trail just seemed to ‘end’. We searched again until dark. And it snowed again.
God bless you forever, for doing everything in your power for your loyal, loving little friend.
You're about the furthest thing in the universe from a "loser" to me, ma'am.
“But they did find it didn’t they?”
They found him because the dog was too weak to move from where they left him. That was NOT true of the original owner.
re: “Criminal charges are ridiculous. It isn’t like he abandoned the dog in his back yard. If you go out into rough country, you can find yourself in danger of dying. If a storm was moving in, and he didn’t have the equipment to take the dog out...abandon the dog.”
The dog is “property”, but the dog is different than a bike or a car or other inanimate object - right? The dog is a living creature that can feel pain and starvation. A person can be “cruel” to a bike or a car, but the bike or the car do not experience pain and suffering like a living creature. There is a difference because an animal can feel pain and suffering at the hands of an owner.
I do not blame the owner for making a possible life and death decision to take the younger hiker to safety, and, I do not know, without more information than given in the story, whether criminal charges against the owner are justified. However, he should have checked on the dog as soon as he possibly could to verify if the dog died or survived. To just assume it was dead is a pretty big assumption.
If he had left another person behind because that person was also injured and he could only take one of them, then yes, you make the best decision you can, but then you try like h*ll to get help for the one you had to leave behind. You wouldn’t just assume the one you left died. Even if you did you would still attempt to verify it and try to get all the help you could.
This guy is suspect to me because, at least according to the article, he never even attempted to check on the dog. And, another thing, the dog’s paws were cut to ribbons by the rocks during their original hike and that’s why the dog couldn’t follow them down the mountain - who in their right mind would try to bring their dog on such a hike.
Once you saw the dog was hurting itself on the rocky terrain - that is the point you decide you need to turn back. Even if criminal charges aren’t justified, there is NO WAY he should get the dog back because he’s demonstrated he doesn’t know how to properly take care of the dog.
Have you ever tried to carry a 100 lb dog? I have. And no, you won’t make it down a mountain without special equipment and HELP.
Evidently, some brave, noble souls out there can't make it back up to look without "special help," either.
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