Rusty Boy

This is our little Rusty Bucket. He’ll be six in March. Or at least we hope.
Today, Rusty was shot by our neighbor. An accidental unlocked gate. He was free for 5 minutes and ran  into the road.
Our neighbor shot him in the butt and the bullet went through his tail and traveled to his bladder. He was peeing blood. It was a horrifying mess as my son and I tried to clean him and figure out what was wrong.
This is Elijah’s dog. It’s not as if my poor son hasn’t had enough to deal with in his young life, but today, he held his dog as I drove to the vet. They sedated, did an X-ray and put in a catheter. Rusty is spending the night at the vet. So far we’ve paid $415.59 that we don’t have to spare. They will watch him all night and tough decisions will be made tomorrow. If Rusty’s body is able to repair itself he will come home. If the damage is significant then he will have to be put down. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to spend thousands on a delicate surgery to repair his urethra.
I, more than most, know that  a dog roaming free is unwelcomed. I own livestock….and have suffered many tragedies at the mouths of loose dogs. With that said, Rusty weighs about 12 pounds. He’s 8 inches tall. He is as nonviolent and mellow as they get. He was fleeing when shot. No one was threatened or in danger from this tiny pup. This was the act of a very angry man who has spent the last eight years harassing my family.
He has….
*pointed a gun at me and seven of my children at my own front door.
*he has driven head on at my van trying to run me and my children off the road.
*he has laid in the ditch in the middle of winter shining a red laser light through my dining room window at our heads while my husband was out-of-town.
*he has stood in the middle of the road photographing me and my children through our living room window.
*we suspect he poisoned our dear cocker Molly who subsequently died.
*he has stopped his truck at the end of my drive way blocking my exit.
*he has used his truck to follow my kids (when they were about 11) on snow machines and then accused them of trying to run him over skiing.
*when my children play in their yard he stands in his yard screaming obscenities at them.
*my children can no longer ride their bikes down the road; when they do he stands in his driveway cussing at them.
*when I work in my garden he sits on his 4-wheeler at the end of my driveway watching me.
Everything he has done (aside from the gun incident in which he told the officers it was a ski pole and they believed him) is legal. Well, and poisoning our dog, but we couldn’t prove that. I’ve have been a prisoner at my own home since moving into it. I go in the house when he comes out. I can’t let my kids be normal kids. I don’t drive out if he is in sight. I haven’t talked about it because, well, I don’t talk about so many things that seem to plague my life.
The previous owners were also harassed, but didn’t disclose that he was a child/dog hater until after we purchased the home.
I had multiple dogs roaming in my yard this summer. Several tried to tear down the fence to get at my chickens and sheep. I caught these dogs and called their owners to retrieve them. Rusty is not a threat to anyone especially a large 47-year old man.
Shooting an animal that is not a threat is illegal. Proving he did it is impossible. But God knows.
I would say I pity the man, but he is not worthy of pity. Only a completely heartless ass would shoot a small dog as he ran away.
Please, say a little prayer for our sweet little guy. May he pull through this and come home. Elijah cannot handle another reason to be angry. His heart needs to heal.

*edited to add.... I really try to do my part to be a responsible pet owner as much as humanly possible, but we all know things happen. Dogs break a chain, the collar slips, the batteries in the electronic collar go dead... even a child slips our grasp at times and runs. Life happens and as humans we are expected to be a bit accepting. And for the humans that aren't, there are laws that cover what you can and cannot do when life happens. One of them is shooting a non-threating animal. If that were the case I could shoot every moose that munched on my garden and fill all our freezers, but I can't. And I can't shoot a dog because he bolted from his owner and ran through my flower bed. And my neighbor can't shoot my dog when he's running for home. But he did.