Trauma

It was a normal evening – John and I were even trying to get to bed a little early, because we haven’t been getting enough sleep lately. I went to take Béni down to go to the bathroom before bed. It was about 9:30.

When we got down to the 1st floor, his good friend Yodel, a 6-7 month old Bernese Mountain Dog, was also heading out with his owner. They started playing immediately, so when we got outside, we both let them off their leashes so they could play for a bit before bed. A few minutes later, we noticed they were tangled and yelping.

We kneeled down and tried to get them separated. Yodel’s leg had gone down through Béni’s choke chain, which made the chain so tight around Béni’s neck that he couldn’t breathe. I tried to pull the chain off Yodel’s leg (it was just past his first leg joint), and it hurt him so much that he bit me. At this point, I ran to get Dave, Yodel’s “dad.” When we got back out there, Béni’s eyes were closed, he was unresponsive and was foaming at the mouth. I lost it.

I started screaming John’s name. I ran all the way up the stairs to our 3rd floor apartment, still screaming John’s name while bawling hysterically. John raced outside so fast that I don’t even remember seeing him pass me.

When I got back downstairs, there were a lot of people around the dogs and another girl came up to me and led me away. I told her I didn’t want to stand around, because I was so upset and would just be distracting. She tried to calm me down, but I really couldn’t stop – I was really upset. Béni was going to die if they couldn’t get the chain off fast.

About 2-4 minutes into the ordeal, someone was finally able to cut the chain off Béni’s neck, and there’s no doubt in my mind that thanks to John’s quick thinking, he saved Béni’s life. We then took Béni inside, where I cried for probably another hour and both John and I had a hard time going to sleep. We were so worried about Béni. He had a nose bleed, and we called the vet about it, but they thought it probably wasn’t something serious and he either burst a blood vessel from struggling to breathe or the other dog bit him trying to get free.

Béni was able to eat, drink and do all of his commands, so we are hoping he’s ok. He has been lethargic, even today, so we’re still keeping a close eye on him. Both John and I are having a hard time not being at home with him all day, though. We are both still very shaken up. I can’t believe we almost lost Béni last night.

a picture of Béni taken from my iPhone earlier this week