Story Photos
 The amputation of a front leg hasn’t slowed down Ella, 2. Greg Ebersole / The Daily News
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'Poor dog' takes horrible accident in stride
Thursday, May 8, 2008 11:31 PM PDT
By Amy M.E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe black dog launches herself across the grass at Lake Sacajawea.
The tennis ball soars hundreds of feet, and the dog is already halfway there. She snatches up the prize and races back to her owners. The ball flies again, and Ella shoots off, her feet a blur, her face the picture of doggy joy.
It’s then you realize she’s got only three legs.
People walking the lake do a double-take. “Poor dog,” their expressions say.
But Ella, a 2-year-old black lab/pitbull mix, doesn’t spend time mourning her amputated front leg—not while there’s ball to play, rivers to swim, cars to ride in, a couch to sleep on and people to snuggle with.
Ella drops the ball at David Swanson’s feet, panting heavily, tail wagging. Her eyes are fastened on the soggy tennis ball as Swanson’s 15-year-old daughter, Hannah Bennett-Swanson, inserts it into the plastic throwing arm.
“She’s relentless with the ball. She’ll go forever,” said Swanson, 53, a Longview cabinet and furniture maker.
But one terrible evening last July, Swanson’s family feared Ella’s ball-chasing days were over.
‘I thought she was gonna die’
It had been a beautiful summer day. Hannah and her mom, Anne Bennett, took Ella hiking on the trails around Rainier High School and then ran an errand.
They returned to Longview, pulled into the driveway of their Old West Side home and opened the car door. Ella jumped out and ran across the street to inspect a roaming cat.
Bennett crossed 24th Avenue to get her. A pickup approached, and Bennett held up her hand. The truck stopped. As Bennett reached for Ella’s collar, she motioned for the truck to drive on.
Ella ran in front of the truck.
Inside the house, Swanson heard the dog scream, followed by the screams of his wife and daughter.
Ella’s front right leg was dangling, its muscles and tendons exposed.
Swanson called to her, but the panicked, wounded dog took off running toward the lake. Her family gave chase, Hannah and her dad on foot, Bennett in the car. Hearing their cries, neighbors joined in pursuit. Hannah called out to passersby, asking if they’d seen Ella.
Block after block Ella ran. She crossed the steel bridge at Hemlock Plaza and descended the bank into the cool water.
“I thought she was gonna die. I was really, really, really sad,” said Hannah, a sophomore at R.A. Long High School who had begged her parents for another dog after the family’s elderly black lab passed away. In July 2006 they adopted Ella from the Cowlitz County Humane Society. The 8-week-old nugget of black fur had a cold and a touch of mange. Out of a litter of 11, Ella was one of two puppies to survive.
At the lake, Swanson pulled Ella from the shallow water and carried her to the car. A neighbor, Tim Temples, wrapped Ella’s leg in Ace bandages. Hannah and Swanson held the dog in the back seat for the 40-minute drive to an emergency veterinarian in Vancouver, the closest animal hospital open in the evenings.
The veterinarian looked at the X-rays and declared Ella’s leg could not be saved. Swanson and Bennett debated whether to euthanize Ella. Hannah said absolutely not.
The next day, a Longview veterinarian amputated Ella’s leg. The family brought Ella home with a cone around her head to keep her from chewing at her staples.
“They said there are a lot of three legged dogs that do just fine,” Swanson recalled.
While Ella rested, Bennett, a physician recruiter, sat down at her computer to research dogs with missing limbs. She was encouraged by what she found — an online community of people with amputee pets. Bennett marveled at a video someone posted of a two-legged greyhound. The dog was missing both legs on one side, and it was running, said Bennett, 54.
Living a great life
Soon, Ella’s incisions healed and the vet removed the staples. That day, the family took her to Northlake Elementary School and set her loose.
“She got used to it really fast, but a couple times she stumbled,” Hannah said.
Getting to this point had cost more than $3,000 in vet bills, but Ella was ready to run.
Now, Swanson walks Ella every morning at the lake. The sight of her happily trotting along on three legs tends to make people grateful for what they have and less inclined to complain about their minor troubles, he said.
“When you think about how she just does what she could do before and doesn’t think about it—she doesn’t let the loss of a leg stop her,” Swanson said. “She’s not smart enough to think about it,” he chuckled.
Wiped out from playing fetch Tuesday afternoon, Ella sprawled out on the cool wood floor beneath the dining room table.
“People say, ‘Oh, poor dog,’” Bennett said. “We start laughing because she’s got such a great life.”
cat lover wrote on May 9, 2008 1:25 AM:
wendee wrote on May 9, 2008 1:45 AM:
Kudos wrote on May 9, 2008 6:00 AM:
Nothing new wrote on May 9, 2008 6:06 AM:
Amazed By Ignorance wrote on May 9, 2008 7:15 AM:
DAVID wrote on May 9, 2008 7:24 AM:
book chick wrote on May 9, 2008 8:06 AM:
I beg to differ with you wrote on May 9, 2008 8:10 AM:
Get a life wrote on May 9, 2008 9:02 AM:
Re Amazed wrote on May 9, 2008 9:05 AM:
CathyZ wrote on May 9, 2008 9:32 AM:
To Amazed By Ignorance wrote on May 9, 2008 9:34 AM:
yakvetnurse wrote on May 9, 2008 10:03 AM:
a college neighbor... wrote on May 9, 2008 10:11 AM:
Emergency vet available wrote on May 9, 2008 10:21 AM:
TO Amazed by ignorance wrote on May 9, 2008 10:31 AM:
Amazed By Ignorance wrote on May 9, 2008 10:44 AM:
Spirit wrote on May 9, 2008 10:55 AM:
Thanks!
"
NZ wrote on May 9, 2008 11:00 AM:
Kelso Nana wrote on May 9, 2008 11:11 AM:
dogs DO scream wrote on May 9, 2008 11:43 AM:
"
to Amazed And Ignorant wrote on May 9, 2008 11:49 AM:
EX-LONGVIEW-ITE wrote on May 9, 2008 1:16 PM:
Chocolate is fortunate tho-- the vets at the U.W. fixed him up-- and with therapy he should be adoptable in June.
This dog is also fortunate that someone cared enough to help her.. and I own a cat and a black lab now...so this story is a great one! Thanks Daily News for publishing this touching story! "
Louie wrote on May 9, 2008 2:01 PM:
Oh yes...I agree...dogs do scream.
Great story as it goes to show you the spirit of our beloved animals as well as results when a pet is properly cared for. "
Dog fan wrote on May 9, 2008 2:31 PM:
Our dogs are part of our family.
What a great story!!!! "
sigh wrote on May 9, 2008 3:26 PM:
LL wrote on May 9, 2008 3:53 PM:
to sigh wrote on May 9, 2008 4:10 PM:
I hope to see Ella and family one morning on our walk around the lake; I'd like to meet with them and share, in person, how proud I am to have such a wonderful, caring family living in our community. Until then! :) "
LOVE IT wrote on May 9, 2008 5:01 PM:
-legged dog owner wrote on May 9, 2008 7:12 PM:
To Sigh Wondering wrote on May 9, 2008 7:15 PM:
doggylover wrote on May 9, 2008 7:28 PM:
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