# Just a Baby



## mydogrocks (Oct 20, 2010)

I've become really close with Ares breeder and I've been helping with her most recent litter. Yesterday there was a family that came to view the litter and (even though she was told not to) the mother handed the puppy to her daughter who dropped him right on his head. 
They were very sorry and left quickly, but a few hours later the puppy started acting strange; refusing to eat and unsteady movements. We took him to the E-Vet who said he might have serious damage to his spinal cord. We were told to monitor him and were planning to take him to his normal vet for xrays in this morning. He spiked a fever and was taken to the vet where he went in to respiratory destress and passed away shortly after. 

I'm so sad and angry right now, he was a tiny baby hardly 5weeks old and he's never going to get the chance to grow up because the mother wouldn't say no to her daughter.


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## juliejujubean (May 4, 2011)

o my goodness, I am soooo very sorry, that poor pup. i would make the mother of that child pay for these hospital bills, a young child should not be picking up a young pup... This really breaks my heart.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

maybe, just maybe, someone on your team
should have said no to the mother and not
allowed anyone to handle the pups. when the mother
handed the pup to her daughter who was monitoring???


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## katieliz (Mar 29, 2007)

how terribly tragic and what a painful lesson to learn. mydogrocks, you are blaming the wrong person tho. the responsibility lies with the breeder/owner. no one should have been handling five week old puppies. actually it's would be better if no one even visited puppies until they're older than barely five weeks. you can never totally control the behavior of others, you must control the environment of the dog(s).

bless this little baby's heart. no matter the question of responsibility, i am so very sorry.


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## Sunstreaked (Oct 26, 2010)

I am so sorry that happened, mydogrocks. A tragic accident.


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

Hey, maybe this is not the place to play the blame game on the breeder. 

It happened and can't we all just be sad for the owners. It was a terrible accident so please, don't play the blame game, blaming the breeder.


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## Sunstreaked (Oct 26, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> maybe, just maybe, someone on your team
> should have said no to the mother and not
> allowed anyone to handle the pups. when the mother
> handed the pup to her daughter who was monitoring???




I gotta hand it to you, doggiedad, you've got a real gift there.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I am really sorry this happened. I feel for everyone involved.

When do you start socializing them to children and other people? Five weeks old is pretty big. In fact, it was too large for my sister's kids when she first brought them over. The next time, I made sure they were smaller, so that they would not scare the kids so much. I think this was just a tragic mistake from a potential buyer not listening. 

a few photos of kids handling young puppies (20 days old):



























4 week old pups:


















These puppies are younger than the puppy that died. I think it is awful that that happened, but I do not blame the breeder. It was an accident. I thing at some point you do have to subject the puppies to children, and hopefully have some control over it. 

I put the blanket down in the pen, set the girls on the blanket, had them sit, and then added the puppies, I had them wait for the puppies to come up to them, and then, carefully, I let them stand up and walk around the puppies. Even when you know the children VERY well, they can be somewhat unpredictable.

ETA: boy those girls changed a lot between August and April. My sister has the same jeans and shoes, LOL.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

I'm so sorry to hear about the baby ... it's really sad!!!


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## FG167 (Sep 22, 2010)

That's terrible and heartbreaking. 

The puppy/child pics are precious!


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

That is awful, I am sorry for you and the breeder. Stupid parents, I do not think they should be getting a puppy!!!


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

selzer said:


> I am really sorry this happened. I feel for everyone involved. I think this was just a tragic mistake from a potential buyer not listening.


Yes, I agree. I'm so sorry this happened


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

Selzer, thanks for posting those lovely pictures! They helped balance out the sadness of the story in the first post.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

very sad I had this happen to a litter of kittens I was fostering, some girl picked one up and dropped her right on her head! Then SAID she was afraid of cats! EEE GADS! next morning she was in distress, cold, shaky,,raced to the vet, she had fluid on her brain, they pumped her full of fluids and hoped for the best.

A few hours later she perked back up, but was blind! When the swelling went down her eyesite came back..I kept her because she wasn't/isn't quite right mentally

I'm so sorry for this,,I would most likely be a witch and call that person and tell her the puppy died.


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

JakodaCD OA said:


> very sad I had this happen to a litter of kittens I was fostering, some girl picked one up and dropped her right on her head! Then SAID she was afraid of cats! EEE GADS! next morning she was in distress, cold, shaky,,raced to the vet, she had fluid on her brain, they pumped her full of fluids and hoped for the best.
> 
> A few hours later she perked back up, but was blind! When the swelling went down her eyesite came back..I kept her because she wasn't/isn't quite right mentally
> 
> I'm so sorry for this,,I would most likely be a witch and call that person and tell her the puppy died.


Yep me too and I would also tell her that she should not get a puppy since she can't control her own kid!!!


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

As a parent, I've allowed my daughter to handle young puppies, kittens etc. I taught her HOW to handle them, and only while she was sitting on the ground. Such a simple thing to avoid a tragic accident. 

I am so sorry to hear of this loss.


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## marshies (May 18, 2011)

I feel terrible for the loss of the puppy. Such a young life!
The rational side of me tells me everyone is responsible, but the evil side of me says to call the parent and tell them the puppy died.


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## katieliz (Mar 29, 2007)

placing blame is different than accepting responsibility.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

vat said:


> Yep me too and I would also tell her that she should not get a puppy since she can't control her own kid!!!


Of course she cannot control her kid, though there was no evidence of that by the post. She cannot control her own self. I think the way I read it, she was told not to let the child hold the puppy, and she handed the puppy to child. The kid dropped the puppy. If there is anyone at fault it is the parent, not the child. Holding a squirmy puppy was not something the child was ready for. If the child deliberately dropped of flung the puppy that would be a different story. But I do not think this had anything to do with the parent's lack of controlling the child, it was controlling herself that caused the problem. 

But we can play it over and over and over, assigning responsibility or blame or guilt about what happened, and how it may have been avoided, but it will not bring the puppy back. 

One time, I had a fellow come four times to visit the litter. On his last visit he brought a grooming table. He was a professional handler and he wanted to set the pups up and stack them. There were six males, and it was a squirmy procedure. Anyhow, he let go of one of the pups and it fell off of the table. We were outside and the grass was forgiving -- no consequences. But even adults, and dog people to boot sometimes have accidents with puppies. It is unfortunate and sad, but holding onto a lot of negative feelings about it, isn't going to help anyone.


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

The only time I let anyone handle the puppies is sitting on the ground. Adults, kids, it doesn't matter to me, if you are not on the ground holding the puppy in your lap, then you don't hold a puppy. 
Might sound strict to some, but I never had a puppy dropped on its head or body from the ground.


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## Silvermoon (Apr 2, 2011)




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## mydogrocks (Oct 20, 2010)

I kust wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and the pictures were very cute. The end of this whole ordeal was the mother offered to pay for all of the medical bills then the full price for the puppy when she heard he passed away. I think everyone is right and this was a terrible accident. 

And no, this family is not going to be getting a puppy from this breeder.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

While it is sooo very sad, and I would be beyond livid, I think it was nice of the woman to offer to pay the medical bills and price of the puppy.


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## London's Mom (Aug 19, 2009)

I am so saddened by this post. That poor little puppy. I do believe it was a terrible accident and that no one was directly at fault. But I am sure everyone learned from this horrible episode and will, hopefully, not happen again.


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