Was it the dog’s fault?

Date:: March 20, 2022

Categories: Dog

We got some pretty strange calls at times. This is certainly one of them.

We arrived on scene to a guy holding his hand, bloody and pale as a ghost. He was in his woodshop and sitting on a workbench. He was mumbling to himself “bad dog, bad, bad dog.”

We immediately went into action, stopping the bleeds and treating for shock. Once we got the man stabalized, we asked him what happened. He was cutting a piece of wood on a table saw, got distracted by his dog coming in and cut off three of his fingers.

The man was very upset because he thought the dog ran off with the fingers, but we found them on the ground next to the saw. We rushed him to the hospital where they successfully reattached his digits.

Notes From The Medic

The patient did the right thing by first putting pressure on the bleed and sitting down. He called 911 and got emergency services rolling within about a minute of his injury.

One option he had would be to ensure he wasn’t alone by calling a family member or neighbor to stay with him, after calling 911 and then elevating his arm to reduce blood flow. Self treating for shock is difficult, but ensuring as little blood loss as possible and staying calm are the best ways to do this, along with having another person at your side to help.

He is healing up and working in his shop but still blames the dog to this day for distracting him and making him left handed.