Family's terrier survives 16-hour ordeal in pond
animal rescue John GORDON/Langley Times British Columbia
Frances Alblas' Wheaten terrier Harrison struggled for life in a plastic-lined pond for 16 hours. The dog's leg was later amputated.
By Natasha Jones
Times Reporter
Aug 19 2007
A three-year-old Wheaten terrier is back home after cheating death in a pond on a mushroom farm.
The Alblas family of south Langley last saw their pet at 11 a.m. on July 14 when they left for a wedding. When they returned shortly before 10 p.m., the terrier, Harrison, was nowhere in sight. A search came to nothing.
The family resumed searching the next day. At about 1:30 p.m., Arie Alblas's attention was caught by a pair of eyes peering pitifully at him. The rest of the animal's body was under water.
At first, he thought it was another animal, and then he realized with shock that it was Harrison.
Alexzander, the couple's 15-year-old son, pulled the dog out by the hair on his nose.
Harrison was in bad shape. He had struggled for so long that the claws on all four feet were worn away. His paws were bloodied.
The family bundled the traumatized pet into the car and rushed him to the Langley Animal Emergency Clinic where staff immediately began working on him.
It didn't look good. Hypothermic, Harrison was so seriously injured he wasn't expected to survive. His right back leg, which had taken most of the weight as he tried to propel himself up the plastic, was too badly damaged and had to be amputated. His internal organs slowing down, Harrison received a blood transfusion, and antibiotics to treat an infection.
For almost two weeks, his life hung in the balance as he spent evenings and weekend at the clinic, and days at Brookswood Veterinary Hospital.
The dog had been treading water for 16 to 18 hours, said Arie's wife, Frances. She surmised that Harrison, who dislikes water, had slipped under a fence running along the property line that separates their land from the mushroom farm next door.
On this property is a large retention pond, about 100 feet square, its sloped sides lined with black plastic, and the centre filled with about four feet of water.
Frances Alblas believes that after Harrison slipped into the water, he was unable to get back out because he couldn't get a grip against the unyielding plastic.
"We thought about having him put to sleep but he had such a will to live that we wanted to do all we could for him," Frances Alblas said.
"He's like a human being, this guy," she said.
"He's such a fighter and he has a strong will to live."
She, her husband and their eight children were so preoccupied with Harrison's welfare that they missed an important milestone.
"He turned three through all this, and we forgot his birthday," Frances Alblas said.
Although Harrison is back home now and well on the mend, she worries that ditches and ponds continue to be a peril for children, pets like hers, and wild animals.