Terrible

Sunday, Sept 15, I had the worst experience I have had since I found Cosette. Thank God, it turned out much better than it could have.

It was about 9 pm, and we went out for a run. We often do later at night, and Cosette usually does not have to wear her collar at those times, because she hates it. For those of you who know me well, you know that this shows how much I love this little puppy. I do not go running…I hate running…But she likes it, so I go :~) And I enjoy running with Cosette.

Anyway, we were running, and a motorcycle came around the corner. I tried to get Cosette to get to the side, away from it, but this “monster” bearing down on her scared her, and she just scurried, not thinking about where she was going. The driver did not try to swerve or slow, he simply kept coming. He came close to hitting me even.

All I could see was the headlight of the motorcycle, Cosette was too little to see in the dark. I heard a yelp, and she went tumbling away from the motorcycle. I have seen plenty of animals that have been hit by cars, I know what they look like when the hit is fatal. They writhe, trying to get up and run away, but all that they can do is twist on the ground, because their back has been broken. The terror and the pain is awful to see. Cosette looked like she was doing this, and I did not know what to do. Everything happened so fast. I can’t even describe how I felt. It was horrible. To think I was watching my puppy die.

Finally, Cosette leapt to her feet, and scurried up the road toward home. I ran after her (and yelled at the driver a bit…called him a stupid idiot…). Cosette stopped when she realized it was just me and not the motorcycle behind her. She was holding her front left leg tight to her chest. It was the only visible sign that anything had happened, but my biggest fear was internal injuries. I know that often, with things like this, there is damage that you can’t see, and it’s something that can’t be fixed. I took her to the house, and felt her all over to check for damage. Nothing seemed injured, and she didn’t act in pain when I touched anything but her shoulder.

I sat on the couch and held Cosette for a while, and cried, knowing how bad things could have been. Then she wanted to sleep. She couldn’t quite get comfortable because of her leg, so she would lay one way for a few seconds before shifting to another position. We laid on the couch for some time as she tried to sleep. I wanted to do something for her, but there wasn’t anything to be done other than waiting. I was already planning to take her to the vet the next morning for her rabies shot, so I figured I’d have her checked then.

Before we went to bed, Cosette was starting to put some weight on her leg. By morning, she was able to run around, with only the slightest limp. Like my Mom said, puppies are resilient. Honestly, I think it was a miracle. She could have been dead so easily, but by the time that I took her to the vet in the morning, she was doing so well that I did not even have to have her checked. Which was just as well since there was a bit of a language barrier that would have made it a bit tough.

She’s perfectly fine now. No sign of a limp. Runs around like a mad thing. Still a little jumpy when she hears a motorbike coming up the road, but who can blame her? I thank God for protecting her. That moment when I thought she was dying was the worst moment I have had in a long time. So thankful that she is ok. And I think she is too.