Pray for Henry!

This morning I was jarred awake by Dan telling me that Henry our dog was hit by a car. I shot out of bed, grabbed Charlotte and joined my husband, 4 police men and animal control in the search for our injured dog.

Dan was leaving the house this morning to take Maddie to preschool and in the shuffle of getting the kids and jackets and sippy cups out the door, Maddie opened the front door and both dogs ran outside. They have been known to escape on occasion but normally they stay in the general vicinity of our neighbors yards and then make their way home. Dan took the girls to preschool and on his way home he saw a police sheriff out on the highway near our house looking around the woods. I'm not exactly clear on the following events, but eventually Dan saw Tyson by the woods.....Tyson wouldn't come to Dan so he walked over to where he was and saw Henry laying on the grass panting. As he got closer, Henry stood up and hobbled to get away from Dan. Thus ensuing the chase for Henry. Our poor dog was limping and bleeding and he didn't recognize Dan, or how to come home even when we were standing in the front yard and calling for him. He eventually gave up the chase and ended up on our neighbors backyard deck. Dan and the animal control lady lifted him on a blanket, put him in the back of our car and Dan drove him to the animal hospital.

The sheriff told us that he was driving down the highway and saw the entire thing. Henry darted into the road and an SUV hit him.....the vehicle made contact with Henry's head and right side. The driver of the SUV slowed down slightly and then just drove off. What kind of person hits a dog and then drives away without at least seeing if the animal is okay? If I were ever to hit an animal with my car, I would do everything I could to make sure it was okay or find the owners. Heck, I even try and take care of healthy animals that I find......I can't tell you how many times I've brought animals I've found home with me. Dan never lets me keep them, but I always do my best to take care of them until someone else can take over. I truly hope that whoever ran over Henry has a guilty conscience and trouble digesting their Thanksgiving dinner!!

When the sheriff was getting ready to leave our house, he asked me if our dogs have been together for a long time. He told us that Tyson wouldn't leave Henry's side the entire time. He was trying to protect him, and Tyson is the reason we even found Henry hurt, and lying in the grass in the first place! What a good boy Tyson is! 5 years ago, we got our dogs as puppies a month apart and from different litters, but they are brothers through and through. We've always known that our dogs would protect us if necessary, and it's so amazing to see it first hand......brother's protecting each other. This information from the sheriff brought both Dan and I to tears. We have phenomenal dogs!

Henry is staying at the animal hospital overnight. They have him hooked up to an IV with fluids and pain medication and they took x-rays. He has a fracture on his pelvis which they aren't too concerned about and he lost one of his teeth.....they still have to determine whether the tooth came out completely, or broke off. If the tooth is broken they will need to pull it out. Our biggest concerns are that the x-rays showed that his lungs are bruised which is causing breathing troubles and the fact that his front legs are stiff and won't bend without force which could indicate spinal trauma. Hopefully both of these issues will resolve themselves with rest and constant monitoring. The doctors have said that if there are real problems they will manifest within the first 24 hours, so we will have a better idea of what we are dealing with tomorrow. Initially we were very concerned about the fact that the SUV hit his head and were hoping that there wasn't any internal bleeding, but we were told that everything appears to be where it is supposed to be internally and they didn't find bleeding. Praise the Lord!

The hospital has visiting hours tonight from 7-9 and I am going to visit Henry and bring him his dog bed so that he'll be more comfortable and have something that smells like home. I don't want him to think that we just dumped him off someplace and aren't coming back for him.....we need him to keep fighting. We need him. Tyson is depressed and has been moping around the house whining for his Henry. None of us are ready for life without Henry, so he has to get better and come home! Please pray for our dog!