Posted on 08/18/2012 5:45:57 PM PDT by AlmaKing
Re: Dog Found: Mt. Bierstadt! by aortolani14 » Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:34 am
Hi all,
I am the owner of the German Shepard girl found on Mt. Bierstadt.
I need to know the name of the vet clinic that Missy is at so I can go see her and re-reimburse them for helping her, and if I am fortunate enough, to bring her home.
I am at a complete loss of words. My gratitude for the people involved in this is without measure.
Missy was hurt during an attempt at crossing the Sawtooth. It was Missy, a friend and I. Her paws got bloodied up right in the belly of the sawtooth. I was assisting her with the climb using ropes and a harness for a while but she kept getting hurt worse. A few kind hikers stopped and offered some assistance but incoming weather pushed people off of the saddle. My friend and I realized that we could not get Missy up the saddle to Evans or Bierstadt safely so we decided to bail off of the saddle into the valley between the two mountains to escape the incoming clouds. We were lowering her for a while with ropes from boulder to boulder but she was hurting herself worse against the rocks sprawling out and catching them with her legs. Eventually she just stopped standing or moving at all and I knew she was pretty badly hurt. I picked her up on my shoulders and was hopping from boulder to boulder but I couldn't keep her on me. I dropped her once and I almost fell once too and I realized that I couldn't carry her off of the mountain. At this point I made the decision that I honestly never thought I would even be faced with. I left her there so that my friend and I could get down safely with intentions of calling S&R when we were off of the mountian. We both spent about two hours trying to move her up and down the mountain and were pretty exhausted. Neither one of us wanted to hike up the saddle with the cloud cover growing so we continued down into the valley and hiked back to Guanella Pass Rd. It was a lot farther than we thought it would be, and we got lost several times. A group of hunters showed us the way out and gave us a ride back to our car. Thank you to them as well.
I called the 911, the sheriffs office and search and rescue and I was told that it was to risky for them to send rescue crew up there for a dog, which was upsetting but understandable. I'll admit that while trying to get off of the the mountain I was not as concerned because I was focused on making it safely off of the mountain, but once I was safely at my car I was overwhelmed with the loss, and the decision to leave her there. The next couple of days was absolutely horrible wondering about her, if she was alive, or if she died. Thinking about her suffering was awful beyond words. Many confidants comforted me by saying that she was probably gone from injury. All I can say is that I am relieved that she is okay, I am ashamed that it was not me that started this thread, I am ashamed that it wasn't me who got her off of the mountain, I underestimated the good will and resolve of the hiking community of Colorado, and I am eternally grateful to all of you and to 9news. I humbly beg the forgiveness of the community and most of all my Missy Girl. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.Top --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aortolani14 ProfilePrivate messageE-mail aortolani1414er Peak List Not Entered Posts: 20 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:05 amReport this postReply with quoteRe: Dog Found: Mt. Bierstadt! by aortolani14 » Tue Aug 14, 2012 5:13 am
I am reading through all of these threads, and I am just in awe of how heroic and amazing everyone is that did this. I also see all of the anger and hatred towards me and the decision that I made. I feel that I deserve it all. I made it in a panic to be sure, and what I felt was a survival situation. I didn't think to post on 14er's.com to ask for everyone to come fix my colossal mistake in judgement. It is truly amazing that all of you did it on your own. I don't have proper words. It was several days before I would have even been able to even think of walking back up Bierstadt much less into the sawtooth and to try and carry Missy out, and after that I just thought it would be to late. I honestly never thought that I could just ask strangers to go check the sawtooth and carry my 112lb German Shepard out. I don't know what to say. Thank you again to the community, and to those who are angry I am so so sorry. Missy has done 6 14'ers and she loves being out there in the mountains. She depends on me to make smart choices, and taking her into the sawtooth was beyond foolish.
Oh, I’m sorry. But I’m glad you’re here with us, and there, with your own family, animals and old Alice. :-)
She was peaceful.
I was shattered.
Out vet is a Godsend.
He had to put his JRT down and he did it himself because he didn’t trust anybody else to knock her out deep enough that she’d feel NO pain.
I’ve always thought highly of him but finding that out nearly floored me.
He has more courage and compassion in one finger than I have in my whole body.
No dog on earth is more loyal than a Dobe.
I’ve rescued dozens of them and after a period of ‘mourning’, they transfer their incredible loyalty to the one who is taking care of them after somebody else did not.
She deserves better.
She’ll love another, again.
Eaker, do you still have Mason?
To which, my answer would have been: "Well, you'd better come for me then, because I'm returning to her side...where my a## will be sitting until you show up or we're dead. Your choice."
Not that I'm "up" with taxpayer dollars being used to rescue numbskulls from their own stupidity, but it happens every day, and in this case we had a true "innocent" involved.
Sorry about your beloved doggie.
A dog’s foot is not built for rocky, craggy footing which why is wolves and other wild canids are usually found in forests or on plains.
*We* drag them to ‘unnatural’ places, such as sharp, jagged shards of rock, blistering hot macadam and concrete.
I am *horrified* when I see oblivious people walking their dogs on blacktop when the *air* temps are near 100.
I have snakes so I happen to have IR temp guns all over the place and the temps of blacktop on even just a ‘pretty warm’ day are hot enough to singe dog feet.
One woman’s little Pom was nearly tap-dancing as the hot road burned her feet and the woman just stared at me blankly when I told her ~why~ her dog was “acting like a jerk”.
Gah!
Stupid people!
Yup.
Just me, my dogs, y’all....and crazy ol’ Alice...LOL
Wow.
You are fiendishly brilliant!
[I like that in a person] :)
Thanks about Pookie.
I know she’s ~running~ with her sister Phoebe, now, bickering over who’s got the best raw bone.
An honor to be included...
Can you imagine just getting in your car and driving away?? What kind of a person would do that?
I know you wouldn’t of course...did you or did you not nearly dismantle your entire house recently (believe there was removal of drywall involved, IIRC) looking for a snake...LOL!
“They” say “You can’t pick your family”.
Oh, yes you can.
:)
Uh, yeah...the *drywall*.
*Ahem*
That is a subject I try to avoid now because I can’t fix it myself and hubby was none too happy about it and hasn’t had time to do it, himself.
Oh well.
I like looking at my exposed log walls.
[the ripped apart corner in my bathroom? not so much]
When I had Djinni spayed, I refused to leave the waiting room.
They told me I couldn’t stay there the whole 5 hours.
So I went out to the car and watched the windows, in case “frantic motion” occurred.
After half an hour, the receptionist told me to go away because I was scaring the other pet owners.
So I did go away....about 5 blocks...where they couldn’t see me anymore
LOL
:-) Yep. (-: :o3 ~<:<<<<<>
That freaking movie was heartbreaking !!
ALICE: ~~~~8}
Oh, I can top that....
Belle had to be put under a couple of years ago for a “scope” and some other tests (she has polyps, hereditary apparently). Anyway, they called us to let us know that she had come through fine, and would be ready to go as soon as the anesthesia wore off.
We, like you, were about five blocks away. So, we get there (this was a large animal hospital at a State University)..and are directed to a waiting room. We heard a dog “crying” and both the hubby and I knew right away that it was Belle. So, he gets up, goes right past the girl at the desk, through the door, and down a hallway into an obvious “recovery” room where she was in a kennel carrying on...the staff was NOT happy....LOL!
They were like...yeah, you can LEAVE now.
Oh, yeah....it sure was
By the end, I thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown.
But he got *7* of them out!
YAY HUBBY!
[tuff nutz for the staff]
LOL! I’m getting ditsy....... almost two
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