Thought I’d broken the puppy, she’s fine but I can’t stop crying

[IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece]

8w old puppy, home for 6 days. Ridiculously gorgeous, feisty, just absolutely awesome

This morning I was lifting a large pot plant (3ft fern to give an idea of size) down from a ledge and she jumped up and nipped me when it was about 2/3 of a foot off the ground and shocked me and I dropped it. It half fell on her and she screamed like I’ve never heard a dog scream before and flopped in my arms.

After 5 minutes she perked up (housemate who’s dog she is checked her over) and walked off with a limp that went within 10 minutes (not walking the whole time). She has an appointment at the vets anyway this morning so is having a check over anyway but looks totally fine.

But I cannot stop crying, I feel awful, I keep seeing it fall and thinking she could be so much more hurt, I could’ve hurt her so badly.

This feels ridiculous but I’m really shaken up over it. Not entirely sure why I’m starting a thread but everyone else seems to think I’m nuts this morning!

I’m also really nervous around her now, not nervous of her but nervous I’ll hurt her

I took her out for a wee and was so nervous she’d run away or be hurt. Was absolutely fine doing it an hour before it happened this morning!

Years ago my big dumb adolescent dog was madly running like a crazed maniac through a snowy forest. She ran straight into a tree, bounced off and just lay there. I was sure she was dead. But she just stood up, shook herself and carried on, just a bit subdued. But she was back at it the next day. I think she had the wind knocked out of her.

Some dogs are dramatic. One of mine howls like he’s being murdered at every little ailment, the other dog snapped her cruciate ligament but didn’t murmur. She even died of something pretty awful and we didn’t even realise she was ill until the day she died.

It can be horrific but one of the very harsh lessons life has to give us is accidents happen all the time. Usually we get away with it but sometimes tragedy strikes. I sometimes think of that poor young actor from Star Trek that ran himself over on a steep drive and died. Children accidently die from unavoidable events when they were not visible in dangerous scenarios. Same with pets - they rarely get killed or injured when they are in danger but unseen or act unpredictabley. The difference between a close call and a tragedy is usually luck.

Honestly OP, could you have done anything differently given the circumstances and your lack of psychic foresight? Sometimes, all we can do is thank fate and remember that to live life is to accept a certain level of risk.

Oh OP, it was an accident, try not to beat yourself up. I've accidentally trapped ddog's ear once with the lead while trying to attach the lead to his collar, oh gosh the yelps I got from him! I felt so so guilty and had to sit there for 5 minutes hugging him and saying how sorry I was. He was absolutely fine though.

Hey, at least you're not Katie Price whose puppy died after getting stuck in an armchair recliner...

Don't worry, OP Having had a baby puppy like that myself I know how upsetting that kind of thing is, but stuff happens. The good news is that it sounds as though the wee thing is okay. Hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow when you've had the chance to sleep on things

I know how you feel. When we had our puppy, my DH carried her into the kitchen in his arm. He had her in one arm and was holding something in the other hand. He said ‘where’s Mummy?’ in an excited voice because I was there and she took that as a cue to literally leap out of his arm in my direction and in his attempt to try and catch her he somehow flipped her even higher in the air. She fell from quite a height onto tiled floor and the sound she made left me traumatised. Luckily no lasting damage but it was awful at the time.

Don’t beat yourself up about it. Sounds like you scared her more than anything. Hopefully she’s learnt not to jump up at people!

By the way we still have our puppy, she’s just not a puppy anymore! The way I wrote that sounds like we don’t have her anymore

When my dog was fairly young at the park playing with the ball he dropped it I went to kick it and as I did he dived down for it. Result- me booting the dog full kick under the chin. He put his teeth through his tongue, a bit of blood but not gallons. Me and gran phoned my mum who drove to the park and we all piled up to the vet with the dogs cuddled up to gran and giving me evils. I was convinced I'd knocked his teeth out or broken his jaw but by the time we got to the vet his tongue wasn't bleeding, he was fine, the vet didn't shout at me, I wasn't arrested for animal cruelty, and after a few treats the dogs forgave me.

Puppies / young dogs in particular can produce an exaggerated high pitched scream in response to incidents like these at times...you see it when they are being 'told off' by older dogs that they are bothering..it's a kind of 'O I'm scared, please leave me alone I didn't mean it' squawk.. as if they've attributed what's happened next to a punishment for their own behaviour.

If your pup was nipping you first it might have been something along those lines rather than a great deal of pain from what happened.

Glad that you've checked her out now though and that he's ok now.

Thank you all. She’s still limping but also running around like a loon.

She’s weed on the floor twice today and I convinced myself I’d damaged her back or bladder. Then remembered she’s 9 weeks old. That’s pretty standard!