I can't even begin to tell you how shaky I am right now.

I'm writing this to possibly help other people think about their house and yard and the dangers that might be present.

About half an hour ago, I was upstairs. I heard what sounded like my 7 year old son screaming outside. A blink of an eye later I heard my six month old GSD pup, Carbon, screaming too.

Surrounding our dog yard we have a five foot high wooden picket fence that has tops that arch into points (much like arrow heads) with about two and a half inches of space between the vertical boards. Similar to the shorter fence pictured here.

Carbon is not supposed to be left unattended in there, as I have been paranoid that he'd get his foot caught in between the boards.

Our family friend Eric, my son and the dogs were outside playing with a soccer ball. But apparently, Eric decided to come in and my son wanted to continue to play, without the dogs getting in the way of the goal.

So apparently, Eric put the dogs in the dog yard and came inside...not knowing that he needed to either bring Carbs in or put him in the kennel. I assumed he'd bring the dogs in with him when they were done playing. He's never left them outside before because they will bark if they're not included in the action. I didn't even think to tell him to take them in because he always has.

When I heard the screaming, I raced downstairs and outside so fast I think I flew. I had no idea what horrors had happened to my son and my dog.

When I got out...I saw that Carbon had been so excited by my son playing ball without him that he tried to hop the fence, and didn't make it.

When I got there, my pup was almost completely upside down with his front paws dangling about a foot off of the ground. He appeared to be impaled on the wooden tips of the fence, and his right leg was sticking up towards the sky. He was screaming so loud and my son was too, bawling because he didn't know how to help him.

I managed to lift him straight up and out, terrified that I was going to see blood, or a broken leg. I can't begin to tell you how awful an experience this was. I can't stop trembling.

Amazingly, after I put him down and held him, whining, for a few minutes...he got up and started licking me like crazy and then wandered off...apparently fine. No limp, no blood, and he doesn't seem to have any sore spots on him.

He did express his anal glands though. He must have been so scared! I don't know if this will later affect his hip or not. It certainly wasn't good for them.

My finace and I were just talking last week about this exact possibility and saying how we needed to replace the fence with something bigger, or at least cut the tops to a flat surface. We assumed we could do it when the weather warmed up because we thought Carbon wouldn't ever be unattended out there, and we didn't think he was big enough to try to clear it yet.

I'm posting this because if anyone out there has a puppy and is putting off installing safety features because you don't think your pup is big enough yet for it to be an issue, or if you're putting them off because "he's always with you"...DON'T. It can become an issue a lot quicker than you think. I was an idiot for not taking care of this sooner; and my dog could have been seriously harmed from my stupidity.

It could have been much worse.

omg Amber, I am glad he is ok. I am so sorry you had to go through such a scary thing. Reading your post, I couldn't help but wonder why Carbon is not within your sight? HOw old is he now? It seems like just yesterday he was a baby!!! I keep thinking that I will under no circumstances leave my pup unattended until he is at least a year old, but TOTALLY understand how comfortable can be, well, comfortable, the kid is playing with the dog outside....youre online, whatever....I can so see it happening here...but your post is really bringing my goal to the forefront even more than it was before....thank you for the heads up. Again, I am so glad your Carbon is ok. I had a white pickett at my old place and guess I was just lucky that MoJo never got caught up in it, as he jumped up on it all the time.

Carbon wasn't within my sight because he was, as far as I knew, with our family friend, Eric. Carbs isn't supposed to be left in the dog yard unattended unless he's in the kennel, but Eric didn't know that and I didn't think to tell him, since at any other time, Eric has always brought the dogs in when he came in. I never thought he'd leave him in the yard!

He thought since he put him in a fenced area that had a 5 foot fenced border that he would be okay.

He's fine now, but I'm amazed that he is. You should have seen the horrible position he was dangling in.

Anyway, I guess the idea is that the best laid plans can still get messed up occassionally and we should have hedged our bets. As of the incident, my finace has taken off the spiked tops on the fence and we'll be getting a new one soon.

Thanks for the nice words! All is well again!

Amber,

You weren't stupid and you weren't negligent. This was a true accident. What happened to Carbon is just plain bizarre. I can't imagine anyway I would have anticipated this, and I don't think you should be beating yourself up over it. You discovered something new and learned a lesson.

As far as leaving Carbon with kids ..., well, kids and puppies. Kids and dogs. That's what we do.

Rich

I read too fast and thought Eric was a kid, a family friend who was a kid....
At any rate, I totally agree--bizarro accident.

I'm so glad Carbon is o.k. It must have scared you beyond belief...reminds me of the time I had the bright idea to let my girl run on tennis court and she slipped, slamming into a pole. Her cries stopped my heart, and my panicking fiance was no help...I had to remain calm for her sake...but yeesh!

You and Carbon have had a helluva day, Amber. What with the diarrhea and this it is no wonder you are feeling wobbly. Fortunately pups, like kids, are strong and bounce back from the most incredible things.

I'm so glad he's OK

Keep an eye on him. You never know if something internally was bruised or torn. You and/or the pup might not even know as the adrenaline would be pumping for now etc. Might be worth a vet check to make sure.

Scary experience!!

Thanks Rich, and everyone else. You've made me feel better. I'm so glad that he walked away from that incident because I knew that stupid fence was an accident waiting to happen. Of course, I thought his paw would get stuck or something...nothing like what happened...but still.

And actually, I don't leave children alone with my pup. I can leave the Corgi with kids, no problem, but even though Carbs loves my son he can play too rough sometimes. Eric is 35!

Well, lesson learned, I suppose. And again, thanks for making me feel better.

Shelley, I will absolutely be keeping a paranoid eye on Carbs. I did call the vets office and told them what happened, but we both decided to wait and see how he goes. Since he wasn't dropped from a tall height onto the fence, and since he didn't cut himself open, and hasn't started limping...we're going to play the wait and see game. I really think he's okay, though. Dodged a bullet!

Oh Amber.....what a horrid scare.

Poor little Carby baby. I'm assuming since this was written yesterday that he's still ok and not showing signs of anything related to the accident.