You always think 'it won't happen to me' but it can and nearly did to me last night. Last night I would have drowned if it wasn't for the help of a passer by.

The story.

My wife took the dogs for a walk yesterday evening and one of them spotted a couple of ducks flying past and decided to give chase and follow them across the field, across the woods and straight in to local pond - if you can call it a pond more like a black dirty smelly pit. Anyway she caught up with the dog and spent the next 45mins trying to get him out but no he was having to much fun swimming up and down the pond. She comes running home shouting down the road to me 'The dog is in the pond quick' so off like a rocket I'm down the road upto the park and there he is still swimming up and down the pond. I have been off work for the last few weeks with bronchitis so im not in the best of shape and just running the 1/2 mile to the pond almost killed me off. After about 10 mins of calling and calling I said sod this and in i drive fully dressed and spent the next 15mins following him up and down up and down. Bearing in mind I'm recovering from bronchitis I have a coughing fit in the middle of the pond and start sinking and really struggling and I mean really struggling to stay afloat. A passer by jumps in grabs my arms and literally drags me up the muddy bank and across the grass to safety turns round jumps back in which scares the shit out of the dog and the bloody dog just gets out. Now as all this is going on my wife is in A full blown argument with the caretaker of the park because he was refusing to give her the lifebuoy that was locked away in his back garden. This guy was screaming and the top of his voice with his finger in her face 'I don't give a [cloud9] about your dog I only care about the wildlife so your not having the [cloud9] lifebuoy' she shouts back 'it's not for the dog it's for my husband he is in the water' for him to scream at her 'your husband got in on his own he can [cloud9] get out on his own' stormed off shutting the gate to the lifebuoy.

I owe more than just a pint to the guy who pulled me out- to be honest I don't think I would have made it out on my own as my whole body just shut down from having the breathing/coughing fit while in the water if you have ever suffered with a nasty dose of bronchitis your know what I mean when your body shuts down it's not nice.

At this point in shaking from the cold chucking my cuts up from the shit thats in the pond and just head home not knowing what happened with this guy and my wife. Sitting back now I think to my self what the [cloud9] was I doing jumping in to that mess of a pond at night but when it's your dog you just go for it.

Today I called my town council who run the park and made a full on complaint because this guy's actions could have resulted in my dog drowning or worse me and also because of this threatening behaviour towards my wife - my wife now refuses to walk the dogs at that park in case she bumps into him again and it all kicks off.

So I have a representative from the town council coming to my house tomorrow to take a statement and they have said they will take this straight to the top of the town council and will be dealt with immediately. I'm tempted to take this much further and maybe get the local papers involved, not out of spite but this park also has an infant school on site and is the main playing area for all kids in this area, what if that had been a little kid in the water? Not many people know that the lifebuoy has been removed from the side of the pond and placed in his back garden this could have ended up much worse.

I know this post dragged on a bit but I'm so mad at the moment that I could just ground to his flat drag him out and give him the beating of his life but he won't learn from that, maybe losing his job and having his name dragged around the local community will teach him.

Hell fire Sheep; sounds like you had a fun day!

What a ..

Good that you (and the dog) are OK.........

Whilst I don't doubt for a moment that it was a deeply unpleasant experience and I'm glad you got out OK, I have to say that when I read

"and in i drive fully dressed and spent the next 15mins following him up and down up and down."

my first thought was to think of it as evolution in action.

Glad you are ok Sheep. Dont do anything rash in your condition mate. It could be you getting the beating.

You should consider visiting your doctor for a nice collection of needles, if the pool is as bad as it sounds... there could be all sorts of nasties in there.

^^^ What he said ^^^

Particularly if you already have bronchitis, you really don't want other stuff too. Go get jabs.

What Barnacle said +2.

Get yourself checked out.

Glad you're ok too. Nasty experience for sure.

FML...

Your lucky sheep...

You crazy for doing that.

But get checked out ASAP mate!!

+4 to that

glad your ok and DID survive. I would have done the same,i think anyone would. Saying that,there has been a few people not so lucky in Blackpool, jumping in a large natourist resevoir and also the sea after their dogs and not making it back

First of all, glad you're ok Sheep.

Secondly, why on earth did you jump in???? How many stories do you read where an owner jumps into a pool/river/sea to 'save' their dog and drown????

One

Two

Three

etc. etc. etc.



I know most owners are very close to their pets but this morning it could have been your wife making funeral arrangements for you

Priorities and all that.

bezzer.... you obviously dont have a dog

Glad you and the dog are ok.

Is your dog a collie by any chance? Or perhaps an 'old English'?

Good to hear you survived, you were very very lucky!!

I hope the caretaker gets his comeuppance.

You don't have be a dog owner to realise that human life is more important than a dog's surely? Plus in most of the cases i've seen where someone has jumped in after their dog and subsequently drowned, the dog gets out on it's own!

Glad you're ok Sheep, though

Glad you are okay Sheep.

Its all very well to say a human's life is worth more than the dog. But I don't really think that is the point that drives people to jump in.

Its the thought of doing nothing while your dog drowns.

Yes lashes i see your point - best to just shoot it then

Marios ideal situation

[quote=Daniel Or perhaps an 'old English'?

[/quote]

Proccy would not have hesitated to save a "full English"...

This is the point i decided to practice my Olympic driving from and as you can see its not the cleanest of ponds.


This is the little fella that went swimming, he is a chocolate springador.


This is my other dog who just sat and watched, she is only 15months old in this picture



We had a meeting this morning with the head of the town council to give statements, they said leave it with us and we will get back to you - heard that before. Got a call later to say they will be interviewing him on Wednesday and have arranged a meeting with the top people of the council to sort out what will be done this coming Friday.
Best of all they agreed that the safety around the pond is very poor and needs to be looked at so even if he gets away with just a slap on the hand maybe something will be done to improve the safety for others.

Glad you and the dog are ok

The dogs look gorgeous

Hopefully, the council will improve safety at the pool too, although regular checks should have been made anyway, but as usual, the worst or a near miss always has to happen first before anything gets done

A nightmare situation with apparently a positive outcome - no side effects from the dip I hope.

First thing that comes to mind, especially seeing the photo of the pond, 'Weil's desease (leptospirosis)'. Not wishing to scaremonger, but as suggested above, get yourself down to your doc and get checked out.

Glad man and beast got out ok!

Wtf...don't muck around and get checked over by the doctor. Also sounds like the so called care taker deserves a good talking to for his attitude towards your over half. Anyway forget about all that and concentrate on getting well again.

Terrible experience Shaun, it must of been so frustrating not getting any assistance from that , I hope he's made to realise his mistake along with mouthing off at your Mrs. As said it could of been a child and then I'm sure it would of been a different case.

Sheep dips: dangerous!

Got to work this morning and found this as my screen saver, made me laugh
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