Dog PSA. Learn from my experience.

First off, I'll I will own my stupidity. Roast me if you want. I will add I'd consider my self to be an above average/responsible dog owner. I just wanna put this out there in the chance that it helps someone else. As of now I feel very, very fortunate to still have my furry friend today after what I'm about to type...

Yesterday around 6 pm I stopped by and old buddies house because I was in the area. He has a pup, thought I'd catch up and the dogs could meet do dog stuff etc. My dog Lincoln, has never been over there but is a very well adjusted, socialized, smart and stubborn Rott mix. Anyways, we are not there 5 minutes, he walked over to the in ground pool that has yet to be filled with water( he's getting it ready for the year so the cover had just been taken off) and walks off the deep end like its solid land across. Flips as his first step is no longer on anything and basically falls 9 feet to the bottom in a cartwheel motion. I watched all of this in what I believe was slow motion. Semi-in a panic I almost jump in the deep end to get to him. I snap outta that bad thought and my buddy and I use the stairs on the shallow end to get to him. Lincoln gathers himself and starts to get up, shaking a little. I carry him up and out of the fenced pool area and proceed to check him for injury. He defecated some, I believe when his rear portion landed. Maybe it literally scared it outta him mid-fall. I can only guess.
I reached out to a vet shortly after and went through some checks etc.

Chipped tooth in front and tiny rash on front lower lip under it. No blood in #2 or #1. Eating and drinking normally. And he woke up this morning. I've stayed with him to monitor him all day. Hell, he was acting totally normal about 5 min after.

Now, the thought never crossed my mind that a normally cautious dog would do something so seemingly dumb. This is my fault. The dogs werent playing or anything, he just walked in. I now know that their depth perception isn't quite as good as ours from my quick search. I feel like an absolute idiot for not thinking about this being a danger. He's just normally very observant and cautious in new places.

I was going to post this in the pet advice section but I'm not really looking for pet advice per se. I was last night! I believe the only thing that saved me from burying my buddy was the fact that the bottom of the pool has a gradual curve to the very deepest point.

I'm still in disbelief but feel very lucky. Maybe this will help someone else. We go in saturday for a check unless something arises.

I'm tagging @Kerch71 incase he wants to chime in about the depth perception thing or give advice for injury checking to help anyone in the future not necessarily just me in this situation. I just didn't want clog up the advice section with my story.

 

Hey there
Don't give yourself such a hard time. A similar thing happened to me. My wife and I were hiking in St. Kitts with our dog Baron. I lived there for 2 1/2 years. We stopped along the trail to take a breather. The trail was along a ridge. Baron barks once, then dives into the thick vegetation beside the trail. We thought he was chasing a monkey. A while later, we start calling him. No luck. At this point, we thought maybe he ran to a creek at the base of the ridge. I hiked back down to the creek. Still no luck. Hiked back up the ridge. My wife had no luck finding him. Start to get a bit concerned. I decide to crawl through the thick vegetation in the direction he went. Next thing I know, I'm at the top of a cliff (I almost went over myself). The drop was at least 40 feet. Eventually, we were able to find him shaking at the base of this cliff. Long story short, he had a fractured toe and pulmonary contusions (lung bruising). Within 48 hours, he was perfectly fine.

Yeah, it's scary. If you're worried that his eyesight and depth perception may be an issue, I would have his eyes checked by a board certified Ophthalmologist. They will examine the eye much better than a general practitioner. Might be able to explain why this happened.
I definitely think your dog lucked out. Who knows. He might have been distracted looking at something else.
Accidents can happen. I'm just glad he's okay!

 

Years ago I lived in Ridgefield, CT. The people I bought the house from were elderly, and were moving to Marcos Island, Florida. They had an old Golden Retriever named Rusty, who had lived his whole life at the house, and were unable to take him to their new condo. I offered to keep him, I had another dog, a female, already, and he was a very good boy. Rusty was 14 years ol, not neutered, and used to wander the fairly rural area on occasion.

Anyway, one summer evening, almost at dusk, my ex-wife and I took them both to some trails that border Lake Mamanasco, which had on its one side a cliff that people used to jump from, about 40' high.

Rusty ran ahead, with me following, and suddenly....yup, he was gone.

Holy shit, I thought!

I went to the cliffs edge and saw him down below in the water.

I jumped in, landing right near him, and swam over.

We got out at the water's edge, I couldn't believe he wasn't dead.

The funny thing was, he was completely invigorated!

He was spry as hell, and spent the next week chasing the other dog around trying to hump her.

anyway, to the OP don't beat yourself and be glad he's OK.

SPP

 

Thanks for sharing - glad the dog is all right! We love our dogs dearly and this is good to remember.

 

Glad your dog is fine. Dogs (and cats) can have their moments of stupidity. I have seen some very smart dogs do stupid things like out of no where walk straight into a closed (solid) door.

 

I had a dog jump outta the back of my pickup ONCE! Wasn’t going fast maybe 15-20MPH..just like you said super slow mo. Landed it but tumbled and bloodied his chin a little.. I was struggling teaching him to wait until I commanded him to get out after the tail gate came down. He would always bolt out as soon as I touched the tail gate.. After that he was never again in a hurry to get out!

 

Ryan. Sounds like Lincoln is going to be ok. Nurse him back to health and take care.

 

We are going in tomorrow morning just to see what the bet thinks. I'll gladly pay $150 for whatever just to have somebody that knows what they're looking at feel around. If I didn't and something was wrong I would never forgive myself. Thanks for the kind words

 

Man, I feel your pain.... when I was younger, in my teens my pup got out, and as all pups do is run towards open spaces... we lived on a main Avenue so traffic was moderate to heavy, LA area... long story short I forgot to close the gate and he tried to run clear across the Avenue.. needless to say he got hit square on his head.. right in front of me.. my heart dropped as he screeched on the ground... a 2nd car was coming so I dragged him back, saved his life... the impact just scared the shit out of him and everytime a car would zoom by he would run towards the wall... we took him to a vet and he was all good to go.. he passed away at 20, of old age... didn't experience it cuz I was deployed, so I didn't suffer... either way accidents happen and I'm sure your dog will be ok...

 

Man, that's scary and awesome at the same time.20?! If this bastard lives til then he'll probably eat me alive because I'll die first lol. When this dog was a pup I couldn't imagine living him this much. He was a total pita compared to my other at the time. As they say, the dog sticks around until it's taught you how to love unconditionally. Or something like that. So I hope I haven't learned it all yet!

 

Vet said today: Lincoln didn't see the ledge more than likely.
I wouldn't go over to that house anymore with the pool.

He has cataracts. Normal old age not painful type. Pupils are good. Just watch him around low light situations and ledges. Things he might not see.
He's not hurt other than tooth and road rash on chin.