Keep pets secured

16 years ago

To the editor:
On Sunday, July 27, we were headed home on the Parkhurst Siding Road after taking our two grandchildren who live with us to visit with their great-grandfather who lives on the Green Ridge Road in Caribou. We had gone over on our motorcycles with the two children as our passengers as we have before on several other occasions. The children were anticipating going on vacation the following day.     My husband was traveling in front of me as he usually does. He had gone by a residence on the Parkhurst Siding Road and after he had gone by and before I had passed the residence a big German shepard dog came into the roadway and into my lane. The dog was looking right at me and the first thing that came to mind is that it was going to chase us. I only had seconds before we would be upon the dog. I saw people come into the road from the residence of where the dog came from. I thought that they were coming into the roadway to remove the dog. Needless to say that did not happen and I hit the dog.
When my husband looked in his rearview mirror and did not see my headlight, he turned around and came back. The dog was not in the roadway when my husband had gone by and we are very thankful for that, because it would have probably been all four of us hurt that day. When he saw the people alongside the road and not us he knew that something had happened to us.
A lot of people have asked how fast I was going when I hit the dog. I don’t know, because I never looked at my speedometer. I do know that I had let off of the throttle and had applied my rear brake. When the accident was over, my bike was right in front of us in the roadway, so I know I was not going that fast when we hit the dog. We had helmets on that day as we do every time that we ride. We had no broken bones, which we are very thankful for.
Thank you to whoever called the ambulance that day. The PIPD was the first to arrive and the ambulance was right behind them. What wonderful and caring workers they were to us that day. Thank you to the doctors that were called in that day that did not know it wasn’t life-threatening injuries, which I am sure they were also thankful for. Thank you to all the attending nurses and doctors that day that treated us, and especially the nurse that our granddaughter had. She was wonderful and patient with her.
Our grandson was traumatized that day when he came back and saw his Grammy and his sister hurt so badly. But in the midst of all that, when we got to the hospital, he called all of our family and his great-grandfather who we had just left and let them all know what had happened.
There have been some comments made about the clothing that our granddaughter had on that day. I would like to remind those that have made those comments that we did not plan to hit a dog that day. She did have shorts on but she still would have had the same injuries regardless of the clothes she had on. They may have been digging denim out of those wounds instead. Also, it was not my negligence that day that caused us to have the accident; it was the negligence of the dog’s owner.
The Martin family who lived in the home that we had just passed on the right was helping us immediately after the accident. Their daughter Tiffany was certified in first aid and administered help to both my granddaughter and me. Tiffany also asked if she could ride in the ambulance with our granddaughter to the hospital. A thank you is not enough for what she and her family did for us and especially for our granddaughter that day. What a wonderful young lady; her parents should be proud of her.
Our family arrived at the hospital after the accident and was there to help us through this. They have been great this past week cooking, caring for us, buying us meals and getting us to our appointments and such. My husband has had to do both of our jobs this past week. Our friends have been here bringing us food and helping us out, a big thanks to them for being such great friends.
Needless to say, we were not able to go on the vacation. There was a lot taken from us that day because of a dog owner’s negligence. We are thankful that it was not all of us involved in the accident. Hopefully other pet owners will read this and those who let their pets roam will secure them as the law says that they are supposed to do so this does not happen to someone else who is riding on a motorcycle or any other vehicle.

Claudette Woollard
Presque Isle