Ladders, Gates and Other Assorted Dangers

What a day! It started out innocently enough but by bedtime I felt as though a cyclone had hit, upsetting my emotions and pummeling my body.

See the little dog in the foreground? That's my 7 lb. Chihuahua, Lacey, and her sister Bella (with the floppy ears). My two cats are in the background. Two weeks ago today Lacey decided to escape and run down to my daughter's house whose property adjoins ours.

See the crack between the wood post and the metal gate? Bella is standing just a few inches in front of it. Narrow, huh? You'd think too narrow for any of these four critters to get their heads through it, right? Wrong.

I heard loud crying/yipping and raced outside. Lacey's head was jammed through the crack and she was stuck. Body on one side, head on the other. bove the bottom hinge that you see in the picture, so she was standing on her hind legs to keep her balance. I held her body up and tried to gently work her head back through. She screamed, quite literally, both times.

I sat praying and trying to figure out how I could free her, and thought maybe her collar was impeding her release. I had to let go of her and run to the house for scissors. When I returned she was wheezing and panting. It was in the 90's that day and her throat was against the hinge. Not good. Cut the collar and tried again. More crying and screaming and still stuck.

By this time I was close to crying. My daughter and her hubby were gone, as was my husband, and I don't know any phone #'s of neighbors. We're 9 miles out in the country and no one close besides our kids. I ran back in, grabbed the phone and a bottle of cooking oil. I figured if you can get a ring off your finger by making it slick, it might work with her head. It didn't. More crying and struggling. By this time I was crying.

I called my husband in a near panic, sure my dog was going to die before anyone made it home to help. He calmed me down and I finally explained what happened. He instructed me to lift up on the gate...hard...that it would pop off the hinges. I gave a hard yank, and the gate went flying. I grabbed Lacey, cuddled her to my chest, thanked him and ran in the house to get her some water. She didn't want to do anything but stay in my arms for the next 20 minutes. Poor little thing was too scared to even shiver, which is her normal reaction when she's afraid.

I'm hoping she's learned her lesson and stays away from the gate, but at least now I know what to do.

Tune in tomorrow to hear about the rest of my day....and the episode with the ladder. Bruises, bruises, everywhere!