Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

You have to feel good when you can truly apply what you have learned at a Swift Water Rescue course to help a fellow paddler!
Our SWR course had just ended and Jon, Steve (our SWR instructor extraordinaire) and I stuck around to surf a little afterwards. But then the whistle blew, and what was this, another scenario? Nope-Ponga the original PaddleDog needed help! PaddleDog is Steve's beloved and VERY WELL FED Golden Retriever, 12 or 13 years and arthritic. She got to come with us to the river and all day she swam and swam and played. Steve found her in a muddy puddle not moving. Jon checked her vitals- prognosis: extreme paddler fatigue. She was too exhausted to move or climb up the hill to get to the truck. Demonstrating superb innovation, Steve rigged up a stretcher using an old tarp and some boards and the three of us hauled her up the hill, rescuing PaddleDog. Hoohray!

Lorraine McPhee

good job, you guys put some stars in your crown upstairs!

Cool dog. Glad she had a good time, and glad she's ok!

Wait - she is OK, right?

Jason, it was great to meet you! Thanks for your help with the class. Steve said that Ponga might not move much for two weeks, but then she would snap out of it. She just paddled herself into a near coma hopefully she'll be fine?

Paddled herself to a near coma

Well glad she is ok but I guess that is the way I'd like to go!

I am happy to report she has made a full recovery.
Today she got up......went outside.... ate and now is
sleeping again.
Thanks for all the concern.
A big thanks to Kayakmamma and Jon K.
I don't know if you know what a 148 lb. lab looks like but,
I wouldn't have wanted to haul her butt out of there myself....
Thanks again...
Steve

Great to hear she's OK and here's to the team! I thought when I left I hadn't seen her in a while. I'll bet Jasper was glad to see her, too.

that must have happened right after I left. I was one of the two guys that walked out there Sunday afternoon after yall finished.

To be sure, I am not qualified to check vitals, especially on a dog. I was just making sure her breathing and heart rate were not crazy... comparing her to myself, that much swimming might have given me a heart attack! I need to figure out how to ferry as well as that dog, and then do it for hours on end, loving the whole damn time.

THe class was excellent and helping out Ponca at the end was a perfect reminder that it's good friends who make the fun awesome, not just when you're having a blast but when you get a bit beat up too. Ponca was having a fun freakin' day, for sure.

adamm wrote:that must have happened right after I left

Yup, she was walking around down stream, laid down, and didn't wanna get up.
Too tired to get up the bank.
All good now....

148 pounds?!?!!? Isn't that a horse? Can we see a pic of your girl? C'mon, we know you've got 'em . . .
Jan