So I finally got to go home from work today after a double shift and on my way home I managed to hit the neighbor's lab with my truck. Yeah... very bad. I realized then I have a serious information gap in my knowledge.

Does anyone know the best way to restrain a hurt dog with unknown injuries? Usually on a healthy dog I would do a neck/ side compression pinning the dog to the ground and I've had good luck with this method not getting bit by many dogs who would love to make the attempt. The issue of course is that I clocked this dog which caused it to have a pretty bad seizure but I wasn't sure if I broke it's neck, any ribs, etc so I really couldn't do anything without risking much worse injury to the dog.
Then making my day worse this dog got up and snarled and I realize my day could have had a very much worse ending. Happily the owner picked that moment to show up and happily the dog could recogize him even with the injuries the dog had. Happily I think with maybe the exception of a skull fracture and eye injury this dog will be ok. Maybe the owner will ponder the idea of confining the thing on a more consistant basis?

I guess I could get a catchpole for the truck "just in case" or start carrying a gun in the glovebox "just in case" although in this case even if I had to shoot the dog it was way too close to houses to do so safely. Any suggestions out there?

Maybe just use a kennel lead? You can use your arm to keep them from biting you on smaller dogs and hook it over a car door or something to keep bigger dogs away?

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/how-to-give-first-aid-to-your-dog.htm

thanks Connie. As always you have the links :-)

no gun - first of all as you say chances are you will be on a busy road, near homes or people standing around, to use one - second I would only think of using a gun to put a wild animal out of it's misery (deer, fox, goose etc) if I hit one - would never consider shooting a dog or cat - what if you shot the dog and the owners sued you for killing their animal? Plus I know if it were my dog that had been hit, I would want to make every attempt to save him - or make the decision myself to "put him out of his misery" - someone shot my dog after hitting him, there would be serious trouble brewing for sure.

I would think the most useful piece of equipment you could have in your vehicle in case of an animal being injured is a large blanket. Catch-poles could be useful to catch a stray - but handling an injured animal with a catch pole? That would probably be pretty cruel and also awkward if the goal is to keep the animal as still as possible and transport to the vet.

Blanket - thrown over the animal will keep them quiet, prevent them from seeing you to bite, and allow you to carry the dog in a "sling" so the animal doesn't need to be handled or moved very much. I'd say the best way to restrain, calm and move a hurt and frightened, possibly aggressive dog (in pain) would be with a blanket.

molly

I agree totally with Molly. It wouldn't be your decision to shoot someone else's dog. The dog may be able to be saved and if it were my dog, I would not trust a stranger to diagnose whether or not the dog could be saved. I would stay with the dog until qualified help or owner came. It's useful to keep an E-vet's number on your phone, or animal control.

If you find you want to move a dog off a street or put it in your car to take to an E-vet, the blanket method Molly described is what I would use. I keep either a blanket or large beach towel in the car in case it's ever needed.

I also would not use a catch pole or pull the dog's head by it's collar or a leash. I can't imagine doing that to an injured dog. With an injured person, we're advised never to move their head, so don't know why it would be ok to do that to a dog. Serious injury could result.

It wasn't really a question about shooting a dog. It's how to best confine/control a dog without hurting it further while at the same time keeping yourself safe. As much as I love dogs I would prefer to go my life without being badly bitten or worse having some innocent bystander bitten which was for a moment looking like a strong possibility as this dog reacted. After the first seizure this dog was able to get up and walk. It would be a little easier if this dog was down and stayed down... The issue was the dog was scared, active, and mentally altered. It took a good five minutes for this dog to stop snarling and snapping at it's owner which wasn't terribly unreasonable considering the bad ten minutes it had just had after the wheelwell on my truck met the side of it's head. I found out today it's injuries were fractured skull, broken teeth, and lost an eye and she had one other seizure at the vet which is not uncommon from bad head injuries.

A hurt scared dog especially one mentally altered by pain and trauma is a dangerous thing even if it's your dog. I cannot in good consence leave a dog like that wandering loose in a residential neighborhood and had I hit that dog at the hour I usually drive there would be no help available. We don't even have police locally available at that time of night. I live in kinda the middle of nowhere, animal control doesn't exist here although there is a 8 kennel shelter and the nearest e- vet is about a 45 minute drive across 2 counties.

After speaking with Skagit county animal control he said to get a control stick and if the dog stays down great! If it get's up and tries to bolt, bite, etc it's under signifigant more control while putting people around it at much less risk. He said by policy they have to use a control stick on any hurt dog as they approach even if the dog appears to be down and staying down.

IME catch poles are not easy things to use, even under the very best of circumstances. They take some skill, a good deal of strength, and usually more than one person present to help. They can also badly injure a dog if used incorrectly.

If you do get one and are unfamiliar with them make sure you practice with it before you really need it.

Molly's idea of a big, heavy blanket is what I'd personally feel safer using.

But I totally agree about keeping everyone, including the dog, safe. A disoriented, frightened, hurt animal makes for a scary situation.