Lucky Dog

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Had you asked me yesterday what the most unlikely thing I would ever expect to happen I probably wouldn't have said, "To have my dog jump out the window." No, that wouldn't even have been in the realm of possibility as, generally, dogs will burn in a fire before leaping from any measurable height. Or so I thought.

Like any normal weekday afternoon, one of us goes home between 1 and 2pm to walk Otava and give him his lunch. I was a little later than usual since I wanted to inflict the chiffon pumpkin pie on my coworkers, who actually seemed to really like it, thus deepening my curiosity about the lack of pumpkin in the local cuisine. So, about 2.30 I arrived at the door to the house and was immediately met by the woman in the travel agency across the way and a cop informing me that my dog had jumped out the window. I figured they must have had me confused with the folks next door who have a little fifi dog who would, unlike my dog, actually fit through the window. No, they insisted, they had the right person. I followed the cop around back to the yard thinking "WTF!" the whole way. I expected to find either a dead dog or a dog needing euthanasia. What I found was a rather confused and bleeding puppy sitting in the back of a police van.

I got my first, and hopefully last, ride in a police van on the way to the vet. I felt around and, in spite of the blood from his chin, he seemed rather miraculously sound. I, however, was freaking out wondering what could possibly drive a dog to jump out a window. I asked the cops if there was an intruder in the house or something but they had only just responded to the call about the flying dog so they didn't know. I asked Jarkko to go by the house and check while we waited in the vet's office to see if there might be some obvious explanation.

There was no intruder and no obvious answer, either. The windows are about 1m from the floor and have a rather wide ledge inside for plants and whatnot since the radiators sit beneath them. Otava has never shown much interest in the windows but yesterday every windowsill had paw prints on them which suggests that he was desperately looking for a way out. He found one in the window that I leave open just a crack during the day so he can get some air as it can get warm. According to the people who witnessed this rather unbelievable event, he stepped out of the window with his front paws on the flashing and then somehow found himself down on the ledge below it. Uncertain on how to get back in, he dropped to the ground about 4m below, hitting a vent box on the way down. Jarkko's theory is that he needed to poop since he apparently pooped immediately afterwards, which is a perfectly natural reaction to such a traumatic event. I'm unwilling to believe that and think some sort of sound scared him to the point of panic, but it's just a guess. Perhaps Otava is part cat, certainly he used one of nine lives yesterday if so.

The vet barely gave Otava an exam and I had to ask them to give him something for the pain and cleaned the blood off his legs and face while we were waiting for Jarkko to return. I gather they're not very keen on the larger dogs. We'll be taking him to our regular vet tomorrow for x-rays since a dog of this size falling 4-5m onto hard surfaces is almost certain to cause some damage to the bones. His appetite is good and he seems normal with the only visible signs of trauma being the abrasion under his chin and a few mashed toenails, but I want to be sure that he hasn't dislocated or cracked any of his leg bones. Ironically, I had only just sent an email to the breeders telling them how happy and healthy his one year birthday was, along with a few pictures, before heading home to give him his lunch.

I had to run back to work to finish something and bumped into one of Otava's puppy pals on the way to the bus stop. I mentioned Otava's attempt to fly to the owner and he said he had already heard about it from a friend who had gotten an SMS. Man, this is a small town. :) So, thanks to the folks who saw him jump and grabbed him before he wandered into traffic and called the police. And thanks to the police, too, as they were very nice and rather concerned for him as well. Why he went through the window remains a deeply puzzling mystery, but next time, I hope he has the sense to use the front door. Meanwhile, the windows will remain shut.

Given the confluence of natural disasters lately and now this, I really am starting to wonder if something very strange is afoot in the grand scheme of things.