Posted on 08/18/2012 5:45:57 PM PDT by AlmaKing
Re: Dog Found: Mt. Bierstadt! by aortolani14 » Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:34 am
Hi all,
I am the owner of the German Shepard girl found on Mt. Bierstadt.
I need to know the name of the vet clinic that Missy is at so I can go see her and re-reimburse them for helping her, and if I am fortunate enough, to bring her home.
I am at a complete loss of words. My gratitude for the people involved in this is without measure.
Missy was hurt during an attempt at crossing the Sawtooth. It was Missy, a friend and I. Her paws got bloodied up right in the belly of the sawtooth. I was assisting her with the climb using ropes and a harness for a while but she kept getting hurt worse. A few kind hikers stopped and offered some assistance but incoming weather pushed people off of the saddle. My friend and I realized that we could not get Missy up the saddle to Evans or Bierstadt safely so we decided to bail off of the saddle into the valley between the two mountains to escape the incoming clouds. We were lowering her for a while with ropes from boulder to boulder but she was hurting herself worse against the rocks sprawling out and catching them with her legs. Eventually she just stopped standing or moving at all and I knew she was pretty badly hurt. I picked her up on my shoulders and was hopping from boulder to boulder but I couldn't keep her on me. I dropped her once and I almost fell once too and I realized that I couldn't carry her off of the mountain. At this point I made the decision that I honestly never thought I would even be faced with. I left her there so that my friend and I could get down safely with intentions of calling S&R when we were off of the mountian. We both spent about two hours trying to move her up and down the mountain and were pretty exhausted. Neither one of us wanted to hike up the saddle with the cloud cover growing so we continued down into the valley and hiked back to Guanella Pass Rd. It was a lot farther than we thought it would be, and we got lost several times. A group of hunters showed us the way out and gave us a ride back to our car. Thank you to them as well.
I called the 911, the sheriffs office and search and rescue and I was told that it was to risky for them to send rescue crew up there for a dog, which was upsetting but understandable. I'll admit that while trying to get off of the the mountain I was not as concerned because I was focused on making it safely off of the mountain, but once I was safely at my car I was overwhelmed with the loss, and the decision to leave her there. The next couple of days was absolutely horrible wondering about her, if she was alive, or if she died. Thinking about her suffering was awful beyond words. Many confidants comforted me by saying that she was probably gone from injury. All I can say is that I am relieved that she is okay, I am ashamed that it was not me that started this thread, I am ashamed that it wasn't me who got her off of the mountain, I underestimated the good will and resolve of the hiking community of Colorado, and I am eternally grateful to all of you and to 9news. I humbly beg the forgiveness of the community and most of all my Missy Girl. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.Top --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aortolani14 ProfilePrivate messageE-mail aortolani1414er Peak List Not Entered Posts: 20 Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:05 amReport this postReply with quoteRe: Dog Found: Mt. Bierstadt! by aortolani14 » Tue Aug 14, 2012 5:13 am
I am reading through all of these threads, and I am just in awe of how heroic and amazing everyone is that did this. I also see all of the anger and hatred towards me and the decision that I made. I feel that I deserve it all. I made it in a panic to be sure, and what I felt was a survival situation. I didn't think to post on 14er's.com to ask for everyone to come fix my colossal mistake in judgement. It is truly amazing that all of you did it on your own. I don't have proper words. It was several days before I would have even been able to even think of walking back up Bierstadt much less into the sawtooth and to try and carry Missy out, and after that I just thought it would be to late. I honestly never thought that I could just ask strangers to go check the sawtooth and carry my 112lb German Shepard out. I don't know what to say. Thank you again to the community, and to those who are angry I am so so sorry. Missy has done 6 14'ers and she loves being out there in the mountains. She depends on me to make smart choices, and taking her into the sawtooth was beyond foolish.
It does seem straightforward. One should clean up one's own mess if at all possible (Combat being a difference in kind).
Do you live in that little sh!t town at the base of the Hoosier Pass with the strictly enforced 30MPH speed limit?
Not making any judgements...just asking.
Amen.
The couple didn’t find her for at least 4 or 5 days. She was rescued on the 8th day. I think they started planning the rescue on the 6th day, and they couldn’t go up on the 7th day because they were prevented by weather.
Billy Madison: [to Miss Lippy] Whoa whoa whoa, Miss Lippy. The part of the story I don’t like is that the little boy gave up looking for Happy after an hour. He didn’t put posters up or anything, he just sat on the porch like a goon and waited. That little boy’s gotta think ‘You got a pet. You got a responsibility.’ If your dog gets lost you don’t look for an hour then call it quits. You get your ass out there and you find that f***in dog.
say what you want...
eight days will always be
EIGHT FRIGGIN’ DAYS.
I’ve read most of the posts there and these folks are brutalizing the owner yet readily admit that conditions are extremely tough for the search party volunteers.
The dog is fine but the community needs to take a break and put themselves in the owners shoes.
He took himself up there once for FUN. He could take himself up there again for his dog. Another rescue party tried a night rescue immediately after the dog was found six days into her ordeal, but they were unable to find her in the dark.
Even worse. The owner never went up there himself for a week after abandoning her. He left her to die - it’s animal cruelty and he doesn’t deserve to get her back.
I understand your point but after contacting SAR and being rebuffed, his friends interfered by telling him the dog was probably dead from her injuries.
He willingly admits he could have done more if he had thought of it, but didn’t know that resources were available, and his friends were useless.
The guy is an experienced climber. This is what does on his weekends for fun.
He NEVER went back for her in 8 days. He left her to die.
His employer said the she had to send him out of town, so he was totally unavailable to go back for the dog.
I blame his useless so-called friends.
Re: Dog Found: Mt. Bierstadt!
Postby HuskyRunner » 14 Aug 2012, 10:55
Forgive me if I seem extremely harsh here but I find the claims that Anthony is a responsible dog lover to be dubious. Missy was at 100 pounds yesterday when we carried her off the mountain after losing 10% of her body weight spending eight days laying alone in a talus field ~ 12,500 feet with him taking virtually no action to save, by his own admission he left her there to die. At the time he took her up the Sawtooth Missy was possibly 20 to 30 pounds overweight, experience with over 10 years in Dog Rescue and caring for 100+ dogs tells me Missy should ideally weigh around 80 pounds. Missy’s nails were a bit on the long side and given her highly damaged pads she obviously was not used to walking the given terrain. To me he didn’t have his dog’s health in mind by letting her get fat, didn’t have his dog’s health and well being in mind when he decided to take her on a 3rd class route she obviously wasn’t in condition to do, and finally didn’t have his dog’s welfare in mind when he left her there to die.
Talking to Alpine Rescue after we got back one of the members told me of an incident they were involved in at Herman Lake. Alpine Rescue was called to evacuate a St. Bernard from the lake after it had broken it’s spine and the owner refused to leave the area for days to stay with his hurt dog. Staying by your injured dog and giving it what comfort and care you can is responsible ownership.
Years ago while mountain biking with one of our dogs I went over the handle bars and shattered my wrist. Despite being in pain one of my first actions was to put my dog an leash so she would be safe on the 6 mile walk back to the car. Keeping your dog’s welfare in mind despite other concerns is responsible ownership.
Plenty of responders to this forum have commented on being prepared when hiking with your dog by carrying booties, pain meds, (aspirin), water, and any other needs your animal may have, good advice and responsible dog ownership. We put booties on Missy when we got to her and given that despite still having bleeding pads she was trotting down half the mountain without too much difficulty. Even after eight days starving in an alpine environment all she needed was a little help and care in getting her off the mountain. Had she been carried down to Abyss Lake, given some aspirin and dog booties I believe she could have gotten out via Scott Gomer and Burning Bear rather than being left to die.
We actually discussed evacuating Missy via Scott Gomer but discounted believing she was in worse condition that she really was. We took her out of the backpack because she was squirming and wanted her to stretch a little after being cramped for several hours. We were quite pleasantly surprised to see how well she got around on her own. I’ve had plenty of occasions where one of my own dogs got relief from a cut pad with just some pain med and a bootie, I’m fairly certain that eight days ago Missy could have gotten out with just a little bit of care, yet you carried her down a little bit and then left her to die.
The spot we found Missy was several hundred feet below the crossover on the Sawtooth, 1000 ft below the summit of Bierstadt, a spot that wasn’t terribly likely to experience a lighting strike, sure, possible but likely. Having two people one of you could have easily stayed with Missy while the other went for help, sure, burning bear was 8 miles from where you were but a little walk is better than leaving your dog to die alone on a mountain side.
It was mentioned that some hunters gave you directions, did you consider asking them for help in getting Missy down?
Even in the event that I couldn’t carry out one of my own dogs (unlikely because I have always considered being forced to prior to any trip) I would have attempted to enlist family, friends, acquaintances, hired help, whatever it took to get my dog back home. I would never have left my beloved friend and companion to die alone on a cold hillside. That eight total strangers were more willing than you to hike a short 4 miles in crappy weather to rescue a dog we didn’t even know speaks volumes to me about your lack of commitment to care for Missy.
Given that you didn’t take Missy’s welfare in mind before taking her into the mountains, weren’t willing to stay with her during her ordeal, didn’t go back to provide her some comfort or attempt to get her out yourself (blisters, give me a freaking break), and apparently didn’t do much of anything to save your dog prior to yesterday leaves me to say the following: You’ll get Missy back when you pry her out of my cold dead hands!
BTW, I don’t have her and do not know where she is at the moment.
He was the dog's leader. He was responsible. He needed to go back with or without all the assistance he could muster.
You blame his friends??? The guy is 30 yrs old, he’s not in high school. He thought the dog was already dead a day or 2 after he left her up there? I doubt that. A week, maybe.
And as for being sent out of town....He professes his love for the dog - then he should have called in sick and gone up there to get her.
The point is...strangers made more of an effort than he did.
He abandoned the dog, so now it should be adopted by someone else.
Thank you for posting that.
Bump
BINGO. No one's ever going to put it any more bluntly (or inarguably) than that.
Boom.
LOL!
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