Weather Warning!!

Weather Warning!! Frozen Pond Warning!! This is a real story!! I hope people who read this blog will take care of themselves and their dogs!!

I nearly LOST my precious Sing today!

Normally, when I go to train with Bernadette, I'll take the dogs out walking on the way to her but today I have to change my routine because of the Border Collies staying with me. I want to give them a good walk before I go. Since it was a frosty morning, I decided to take all of them out early to Seven Islands bit of Mitcham Common for a good walk.

We walked and played ... Copine has to stay on the lead as her Vet said she either pull a muscle or torn a ligament (one of her rear legs is not looking too good, it only shown the leg is stiff whenever she wakes up from resting), so only calm walking for her; but for an active dog like her, it is very hard to keep her on the lead especially when she sees the other running around but she is trying hard to be a good girl. I keep her on the lead to start with until she calm down and let her off for 5 minutes to wonder off gently and put her back and off again. I found the other way to calm her down (walking gently/slowly) is to giver her a stick to carry. There were a lot of small pieces of tree branches in the Common and Copine was very happy carrying the stick and stroll gently alongside with me.

As we approaching the Seven Islands Pond, she decided she would "tose" a stick into the pond so she can go and fetch it (there is a restriction on her movement so playing fetch is not on her list), unfortunatley the frozen pond cannot hold her weight, instead Sing went in to fetch the stick she tosed. Copine and Sing thought this was a good game and the second time, Copine tosed the stick and the stick bounced a little further, Sing ran straight in to fetch the stick, as the pond is frozen, so Sing is half running and half slippering but he looked absolutely fine, then the third time, he ran even faster than the previous times and he slipped right near to the island across ... and the worst thing was, THE THIN ICE BROKE! Sing fell into the freezing cold water, he struggled to swim back to me, becasue most of the ice were still thick. I was all panic seeing him tried to swim and go nowhere, there was no walker in the early hours, so I can't get help from anyone ... I could not find any big branches to break the ice either. I was crying and shouting at him, I keep shouting: "Sing, come, Sing come back to mummy ..." to keep him going and my poor boy was trying all his might and I can see him getting slower and slower. I am not a swimmer and I don't know how deep is the pond but I couldn't care anymore, I just walked into the frozen pond wanted to get my boy out from there. I have no idea how deep is the pond ... as I go along, I used my both hands to break the ice, some of them were very thick and I have to punch them many times to break it ... I don't know how long it took me but I finally got to him and lift him up and walked back to the bank. The other dogs were very good, they probably were frightened too, they just stay quietly at the bank. When I got to the bank, I saw blood on Sing's fur, that made me sick then only to realise it was my blood, both my hands were cover in blood. I guess I must have punch the ice too hard and I've got cut on both of my hands.

Of course, I lost my mobile and camera (they are soak and not working anymore!!), luckily the car key is still working!! Most of all, I have my precious boy safe and sound! He is very attach to me after we came back from the Common, he will not leave my side at all and would not let the other dogs come near me. As for me, I am still in SHOCKING state!! Me and Sing has been wrapped up very warm and sitting in front of the fan heather all day. I tried to catch some sleeps but everytime I close my eyes I just jumped. I am very tired, upset and frightened!

I don't really want to post this story but Colin told me I should give all bloggers a warning as there were many similar cases happened for the last week ... so pleaseeeeeeeeee ... take care of yourself and your dogs when go out walking and possible please avoid any frozen ponds!!

Sing fetching the stick on the frozen pond

This is the last photo before the "accident". You can see Sing running/slippering and he fell into the thin ice close to those bushes (some water plants)