My worst nightmare
I was sitting quite happily on my sofa watching a bit of telly when I heard Toby yelp, and for a split second thought that he’d bashed his paw or head against something. However, the initial yelp was followed by hundreds of others - loud and piercing and urgent. A truly awful noise. I rushed over and found that he’d managed to trap one of his front paws behind the radiator pipe (the 10mm one coming up from the floor which connects to the main radiator) and he was feverishly trying to get it free. I tried to calm him, to little avail, and tried to figure out what to do next - it wasn’t obvious how to get his paw free only that it was unbearably painful to see my little chap in so much distress. And the last thing I wanted to do was to risk hurting him further.. So trying to keep free of his others paws and teeth I gently applied some pressure to see which direction his trapped paw could be moved in. It occurred to me that I might not be able to free him and that he could be stuck here for some time; making that awful sound. Banishing such thoughts I tried a couple of things and finally (after about 20-30 seconds) I managed to lift his paw over the radiator valve and he was free. I picked him up and comforted him and tried delicatately as I could to check to see if there was any damage to his paw - none, thank god. He was shaking a little, as was I. I was also holding back tears, I was shocked at how upsetting this was, and how much responsibility I have for this tiny dog. After a few minutes I let him go and he carried on his normal business of trotting around and trying to bite things he knows he shouldn’t - I had a sugary cup of tea and just sat on the sofa not quite able to believe what had just happened. It’s likely this isn’t the worst thing that’s ever going to happen to him, but I really hope that I never, ever hear him yelp like that - it’s unbearable.