"Tuesday morning around 7am I came downstairs to find Lucy laying in front of the backdoor wanting to be let outside. She often is waiting to be let out so she can do her business in the morning. As I approached her, I noticed something was wrong as she attempted to get up and move so that I could open the door for her. She stumbled and nearly fell over. I wasn’t too surprised at first because the floor is often slick in the kitchen for her and I shrugged her stumble off to just being her getting old and clumsy. After I opened the door I watched her attempt to walk outside it became very obvious something was wrong.
As she attempted to walk she seemed to struggle to get her rear legs to move properly and she slipped a number of times almost falling on her belly on her way out. I followed her out on to the deck to examine her for any sort of obvious injury.
She seemed to be fine other than the fact that she couldn’t seem to walk normally on a slick surface. I assumed she may have been sleeping on the hard kitchen floor and it may have simply cut the circulation to that area of her legs off so that she couldn’t get them to work just right. I watched her for a few minutes and I did pet her. She seemed to improve a bit once she was on the grass so I decided to just shrug this off as her getting old and sleeping on the hard kitchen floor that night.
I did return to check on her from time to time looking out the window and I saw she was moving about the yard so I assumed she was fine. About half an hour later when I let her back in the house her paws were damp from the morning dew in the grass and she did slip more than usual but once on a carpeted surface appeared fine again. I again shrugged off any problem to her being and older dog who may be getting sick. At about 8:35am, my sons Cruise and Jett were ready to go play in the back yard and my wife Emily was unlocking the doors to allow them out when Lucy jumped up to follow them outside. While waking to the door she stumbled and fell on her side into a seizure. She seized for a couple minutes and then regained consciousness but struggled a great deal to follow the children outside. Emily and I were very concerned at this point and we all went outside to see what was the matter with Lucy. She didn’t seem to be in any pain just she couldn’t make her body work the way it normally should. After 10 mins of petting her and fawning over her she seemed to improve enough that we again felt like maybe she would be ok. We attempted to reassure the children that Lucy will be alright and that maybe she is just getting old and she might die someday of old age.
The children went on playing and Emily and I returned to our normal morning routines. When the children came inside again to eat breakfast we again noticed Lucy struggle on the hard kitchen floor. Emily even gave Lucy some bacon from breakfast because she felt so sad for the poor dog which is a very rare for Lucy to be allowed even scraps from our dinner table.
Later about 9:30am Cruise had his ABA tutor, Jodi Blackhurst, show up to begin a therapy session with Cruise. Cruise and Jodi were in the living room working at his desk with Lucy laying nearby as always. (She helps keep Cruise stay calm and is as much a service dog as we could ever hope to have). About 10-15 minutes into their ABA session I heard Jodi yelling for me from the other room saying that Lucy was having another seizure. I ran down the stairs to find her convulsing again as Cruise and Jodi Looked on in shock. I had Emily move Lucy to a safe position while she finished her seizure and immediately went to the computer to look up a vet that could see her as soon as possible.
The first few vets I called were completely booked and I ended up finding one in American Fork that could take her almost immediately. I believe the place is called Country View Veterinary Hospital. After I got off the phone with them I went downstairs to find her seizing again in the living room where Cruise and Jodi were working. As I was waiting for Lucy to come out of it again, my son Jett came home from Jimmy and Melanie Green’s home where he said that his friend Aiden Green’s dog, Rowan, was very sick too. Emily ran over to talk with Melanie to verify exactly was wrong with their dog.
Knowing Rowan was sick as well, I didn’t hesitate any longer. I picked up Lucy and carried her to the van immediately. She was still seizing as I did. While carrying Lucy to the van, I did notice Melanie Green across the culdesac attempting to get her dog to follow her out to her car. Once Emily knew what my son had said was true she yelled across the culdesac to me that Rowan was having seizures as well. Once in the van I began to drive to the vet. In transit, Lucy regained consciousness.
Upon arrival to the vet I told them that I suspected poisoning because the Green’s dog was experiencing the same symptoms. They asked me what poison was used and I told them I had no idea but that I only suspected poison because the two dogs have no contact with each other but started seizing at the exact same time. They acted quickly to get lucy on an IV and to check her vitals and administered anti-seizure medication. They told me that Lucy had one more seizure while she was under their care but then they were able to control them and she began to stabilize. I ended up sitting in their office waiting for about two hours. They also were able to tell me that the blood work showed that Lucy’s liver and kidneys were in good shape and that her clotting factors were looking good. They told me this means that the type of poison used must be a neurological agent which would not cause long term damage to her liver and kidneys as many poisons can. They told me they suspected either a rat type poison such as Strychnine or a snail bait poison. I came home when once they told me they would want to watch Lucy for at least the rest of the day.
Upon getting home I found Emily and Melanie Green out front of my house talking. They told me that Rowan didn’t make it. He had died in seizures at the vets office. We were all shocked. I told Emily maybe we should get the kids and go back to the vet and be with Lucy in case she doesn't make it either. We told Melanie we were so sorry for her loss. She told us she now had the very unpleasant chore of having to tell her children that Rowan didn’t make it.
Emily and I got our kids and we all got in the van and drove to the vet. We were all able to see Lucy and help calm her down. We were told she appeared nervous, and the vet suspected this was because of the new environment and not being with her family. We confirmed to her she is never away from us. They also told us she had not seized any more and that the treatment they were giving seemed to be getting good results, her temperature was going back down, she wasn’t having any more seizures and her overall appearance seemed to be improving. We were all very relieved to see Lucy alive and improving. It was very obvious she was not herself yet by any means. She was very tired looking, very sluggish, but at least happy to see us. The vet, I believe her name is Dr. Campbell, told us she wanted to keep Lucy at least until later that afternoon around 5 p.m just to be sure they could verify her vitals were improving and at that time she would make the decision as to weather or not Lucy would need to be sent to a 24 hour facility or if she would be able to go home. We agreed that was best and we left her there.
Officer Peterson from Lehi City animal control unit arrived. He inspected my property and heard our story and then gave me his contact info so I could provide him this statement. He then went to hear what had happened to the Green’s dog Rowan. I searched my lawn over and over but could not find anything. I had to look up on the internet what snail bait and rat poison would even look like as I have never used or even seen the two products in my life and needed to know what I should be looking for.
Later Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Campbell, called me and informed me that Lucy seemed to continue to improve and that she thought that we could take her home and keep a close watch on her ourselves. She told me she would provide me anti-seizure medication that I could give Lucy if she did seize again and that if she did, or if her temperature went up, we needed to get her to a 24 hour facility immediately.
We went and picked up Lucy and I asked the vet if she was able to tell from the blood work exactly what poison was used. She told me the only way to know exactly what it was would be to get it particulate of the poison out of her stomach and to do that we would have to induce vomiting which would be very stressful for Lucy and could put her in to a seizure again and could even kill her. The Dr. said it wasn’t worth risking her life to get that, especially considering the poison had most likely left her stomach by then and had already been fully absorbed into her blood stream. We thanked the vet for all she had done, paid our $382.58 bill, and took our still very sick dog home. I decided not to go to work that day as the stress from the entire situation was very high. Emily and I were very nervous about letting our children anywhere out of our sight because of what happened."
Tuesday and Wednesday, amid all the emotional stress, every news station in the state came to our houses and interviewed us about the incident. We felt it was important to not only make the public aware, but to also put some pressure on the police so they would work on our case. Luckily, they assigned a detective to the case and they were very diligent about interviewing our neighbors and being thorough.
The second I found out that both dogs had been poisoned, my suspicions on who had committed such a horrible act immediately went to Bart Adams, the neighbor who lives between us and the Greens. It was no secret that he absolutely hated their dog Rowan, but he had never said anything to us about Lucy. Dave was so sure it wasn't him, mostly because he didn't want to believe it. He felt they had a friendship and that although a strange guy, he just couldn't be capable of poisoning and killing someone's pet. We also had our suspicions about a 10 year old boy across the street who had a history of reckless behavior, which included the torture and killing of one neighbor's chicken last summer. And sadly, we have a woman on the otherside of us who went onto Facebook last year and "jokingly" stated that she was going to poison a hotdog and throw it over the fence because she was tired of dogs barking during her kids' naps. It's sad that there were 3 people, in my mind, that could so such a thing to someone's dog.
I'm going to leave that hanging for a bit and move onto Friday, the 4th of July:
Friday was a pretty good day! It was a nice break from all of the drama we had experienced earlier in the week. For lunch, we went to Orem and had a BBQ with Abby & Casey. Later that afternoon, we all put on our swimming suits and played in the backyard swimming pool. Even Miles had a blast! He really loves water!
Sunday the 6th, Cruise started feeling a little better as did Miles, so we took a little drive up the canyon and walked around Sundance for a bit. Poor Cruise had to keep using the restroom, and had to change his underwear a few times. But they had a lot of fun walking in the water, feeding the fish, and exploring.
Dave was in shock and although I suspected him the whole time, I was worried for my kids and even more heartbroken for Bart's wife and two children. It was a very sad day for everyone, despite the case being solved.
Bart will be charged with animal cruelty, which is typically a felony if it involves torture. But because Bart didn't use his hands, it is not considered torture, which I think is a load of crap. So he will be charged with 2 counts of animal cruelty (both class A misdemeanors) as well as tampering of evidence. It is up to the judge as to what his punishment will be, but I am told they will give him the harshest punishment they legally can.
Yesterday, Debbie, Bart's wife, showed up on my doorstep to apologize and to ask if her son, Dylan (Jett's best friend) would still be able to play with our kids. I gave her a huge hug and told her she did not need to apologize and that Dylan is welcome at our home any time. Ours and the Green's "suffering" has been nothing compared to what Debbie is currently going through. We feel for her and her family and will help out as much as we can to make her life a little less stressful. Bart went to work Monday morning and hasn't been home since. Which actually has put my mind at east letting the kids and Lucy out.
This morning, one of the detectives came by the house to pick up Lucy's stool that we were able to save that contains the poison. They will send it, along with Rowan's sample from his stomach, to a lab at UC Davis to test and compare them to the poison that was found in Bart's house. Once they have them all linked together, they will be able to prove to a jury that they were related. We found out today that Rowan had about a cup of poison that was found in his stomach, so he had been given a HUGE dose. The Greens, after a day or two, actually adopted another little doggy named Taz. He is adorable and has helped their kids cope quite a bit.
This morning, one of the detectives came by the house to pick up Lucy's stool that we were able to save that contains the poison. They will send it, along with Rowan's sample from his stomach, to a lab at UC Davis to test and compare them to the poison that was found in Bart's house. Once they have them all linked together, they will be able to prove to a jury that they were related. We found out today that Rowan had about a cup of poison that was found in his stomach, so he had been given a HUGE dose. The Greens, after a day or two, actually adopted another little doggy named Taz. He is adorable and has helped their kids cope quite a bit.
So yeah...it was one helluva week!
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