Treehouse Mischief Gone Awry

[mountain mama]

Yesterday, as I was doing yardwork (pruning tree, trimming out-of-control bush, mowing, edging, etc), my little guy had a friend over to play. Every time this "friend" comes over there is trouble. I don't think there has been a time when nothing has been broken due to his presence and he talks the other kids into doing things they would normally not do. Yesterday, it was the dog My little toy poodle was dropped from a backpack while this kid was climbing into the tree house with her on his back (despite the fact that he had been told not to take her up before). Her leg was completely snapped....compound fracture. She had to spend the night at the vet since they had to put her under to set the leg and she will be in a cast for 8-12 weeks. I think we paid more for the vet bill than the original price of the dog (pure breed).

Has this type injury happened to any of your animals? How would you deal with such an injury if you were out in the back 40 with no vet nearby? At what point do you just put the animal down rather than get treatment? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Pal334]

I am not a current pet owner. However , I did grow up on a farm. We did not spend money to treat animals. If they were hurt too badly to have a reasonable chance to live, we put them down as humanely as possible. Now that I am an older "softy" not sure what my answer would be, but I am sure that the "cap" for costs would not be very high

[RangerXanatos]

I hope you let the kid's parents know about this. There is no excuse for that disregard of instruction. I'd also be prompt about telling the parents the cost of the visit to the vet.

[mountain mama]

Ranger, I did that. The father chose to believe his deceitful son (who has been in loads of trouble at school and elsewhere and has a history of lying), who claimed that it was my son that took the dog into the treehouse. Funny, my son has never done such a thing before and my son generally admits when he has done something wrong. Needless to say, since there is no accountability on either the child or the parent's part, this kid won't be welcome in my home anymore. While I don't think the child intentionally hurt my dog, he also wasn't obeying when I told him not to take her up there in the first place. My house isn't the only one this kid is no longer welcome at. Shame the parent would rather condone the behavior than deal with it.

[gryffynklm]

Fortunately I haven't had to make the "put down choice" for an injured animal. Old sick and in a lot of pain, Yes. The choice was easy, I still miss the little guy.

I agree BAN the kid. I know the type. Parents who refuse to take responsibility for their children's actions. They choose to stand by the child's lies because they can avoid taking action. Nice way to avoid getting involved when its his word against yours.

The children don't learn responsibility ether.

Have you considered encouraging the father and kid to go to the wilderness for a week and trying to survi........

Never mind bad idea.

I hope Mountain Puddle recovers quick.

[Sourdough]

Has this type injury happened to any of your animals? How would you deal with such an injury if you were out in the back 40 with no vet nearby? At what point do you just put the animal down rather than get treatment? Inquiring minds want to know.

.22LR bullet. It is hard, (and I always cry) but it comes with the chosen lifestyle. A farmer is compelled to deal with creating life, and taking life.

[Rick]

MM - It's a judgment call based on each individual. What's right for you? Obviously, it was to treat the animal. Don't look back. You made the decision so don't second guess it. What I or anyone else would have done is really a mute point since it deals with individual personalities. For some folks, an animal is part of the family, a child if you will, and no amount of money is too much. For others, just the opposite. A lot will depend on the age of the animal, too.

I hope your pooch has a quick recover and is back to normal in no time. As for the kid, your child doesn't need that kind of influence. I'm one to let kids work out their own problems but there comes a point when a parent has to step in. I would have banned a child like that, too.

[RangerXanatos]

Ranger, I did that. The father chose to believe his deceitful son (who has been in loads of trouble at school and elsewhere and has a history of lying), who claimed that it was my son that took the dog into the treehouse. Funny, my son has never done such a thing before and my son generally admits when he has done something wrong. Needless to say, since there is no accountability on either the child or the parent's part, this kid won't be welcome in my home anymore. While I don't think the child intentionally hurt my dog, he also wasn't obeying when I told him not to take her up there in the first place. My house isn't the only one this kid is no longer welcome at. Shame the parent would rather condone the behavior than deal with it.

Ooohh. That would set me on FIRE!
Not only would that mean he's choosing to believe the decietful son, but he's calling you and your son, liars!
That is when some words would come out and in inform him that your house isn't the first place he's been banned from, and with BOTH of their attitudes, it won't be the last.
IMHO, you and your son will do much better without them, If they are this bad when they are young, think how much worse they can get in a couple of years.

Hope your pooch gets better soon.

[Justin Case]

Broken bones heal, i am glad you took your dog to the Vet ,,,

[SARKY]

How about getting a restraining order against the kid and his entire family. This way if his little lying arse is on your property or around your family you are covered.

[trax]

We're talking about putting down the kid, right? Cuz, I'm for that, putting down pets is tough, I've had to do it twice. I'm thinking a broken leg in the bush, if it was WonderMutt, I'd try to set his leg and carry him back to the populated world.

[Justin Case]

We're talking about putting down the kid, right? Cuz, I'm for that, putting down pets is tough, I've had to do it twice. I'm thinking a broken leg in the bush, if it was WonderMutt, I'd try to set his leg and carry him back to the populated world.

Good Man ,,

[rwc1969]

That's awful. I guess I'd try and set it myself if I had no other choice. And then leave it up to nature to see if it lives or dies. But, then again if it were a work dog or something along those lines and keeping it up would jeopardize my livelyhood I'd probably be left with the terrible option of killing it.

I guess if my leg was all messed up I'd rather live with the suffering than be put down.

Worst case cut it off, sew it up and hope for the best.

[Camp10]

With no vet to get ahold of, it would be a tough call. Like RWC, I'd try to set it myself.

[Rick]

I can't imagine old poochie is going to be real happy about anyone trying to set a broken leg. My guess is, best buds or not, teeth are going to be gnashing with you as the gnashee. Immobilize it....maybe....but he'd have to be one well behaved dog to even let you do that. That might well be a case of going home with one less round and one less dog.

[mountain mama]

I brought Lady home today from the vet. She tried to bite the nurse just for picking her up the wrong way, so they had to sedate her to set the leg. She is really groggy still and hasn't been off her pillow yet (nor eaten, drank any water, or piddled).

I was really hoping we could be a good influence on this kid (since he has absolutely NO supervision to speak of) but after a while it became evident that it was to the detriment of my own children. I can pretty much guarantee he will be a world class scam artist one day. When I was out front pruning the tree, I heard him yell to my little man to "throw me some more pillows so we can jump out of the treehouse!" I ran around and told him not to even think about it and he started pointing the finger at my guy even though I had heard him with my own ears. This kid is nothin' but trouble.

I do understand Sourdough's POV since my husband was raised on a ranch and has the same feeling about animals. When I told him how much it was to get the dog's leg fixed he said it would've been cheaper to put her down. That is when my daughter piped up and said, "how about we put YOU down?" (don't know where she gets that smart mouth from)

[Rick]

I'll bet he's just hopin' he doesn't break a leg around there. Either that or all the weapons are put up high and tight.

[crashdive123]

Sometimes you cannot put a price on family members that happen to have four legs. We went through four years of chemo therapy with our last one.

[rwc1969]

The thing that sucks about animals is they don't understand you're trying to help.

Our 12 year old cat has a serious respiratory infection, won't eat and will hardly drink. The vet gave us horsepills to feed it and it is not going well.

Dogs seem to have a better sense about them than cats, but it can still be a bear trying to fix em up. I would not want to be a vet.