Just Saw An Accident With A Push Bike And A Kelpie Puppy

[black magic]

While walking Scout this morning I saw a young boy on his scooter being pulled along by a kelpie (I'm no good with guessing ages of breeds I don't know well, but I'd say the dog was about 6mths old) they were flying along the bike/walking track. I actually said to my OH, "My gosh look at that kid, that's pretty dangerous".

Next minute right in front of us the puppy crossed into the path of an oncoming bike and was run over The bike rider tried his very hardest to avoid them but due to how fast everyone was going they collided.

The poor puppy was run over by the bike, I saw him being flipped over the boy (about 8yo) also came off his scooter. I can still hear the yelp and crying of the puppy and it breaks my heart. This should never have happened. The poor puppy was in such a state of shock that it peed as it sat there injured. I held Scout and my OH ran over, the puppy had blood coming from his nose and my OH said his paw looked like it had been injured. The little boy was in shock too (he was upset about the blood and the wee) we finally got out of him where is mum was (a good 30-40metres behind him) She finally clicked that something had happened and ran up to where we were. OH advised them to take the pup to the vet.

OH said the mother said to the boy, "see what happens? now I have to carry the dog back to the car" OH was shocked. he actually offered to carry the dog back for them, but then said to me he was cranky she had said that to the boy as she would have been the one that allowed him to be pulled along by the dog in the first place on such a busy walkway.

The poor bike rider (also a dog lover looked quite shaken to)

I hope the puppy is OK.

He was a beautiful looking dog quite striking

[Remarkabull]

Poor puppy, hope he is ok. I hope he gets taken to the vet, though didn't sound like mum was too concerned for him

I hate when parents let kids do stuff like that. There is 2 different kids where I live that walk their dogs by themselves. Which would be fine if they were older or the dogs were smaller, but one is a very solid SBT and the other is a 9 month old Lab puppy. The 2 boys look to be about 8-10. If those dogs really wanted to get away they could.

[Staranais]

That is very, very sad. I'm sorry it happened, and I'm sorry you had to see it.

I hope they took the poor baby to the vet!

I bike with my dog, but she has a very good instant drop on command, and a very quick and reliable return to heel command. It's not something I would ever do with an unpredictable young pup, or at all on a busy walkway for that matter. An accident waiting to happen.

[Loving my Oldies]

Too bad if I upset anyone, but STUPID STUPID STUPID MOTHER !!!!

[aussielover]

Poor puppy!!!

Letting a puppy pull a scooter along doesn't seem like the birghtest ideas though.

I hope the puppy gets proper treatment.

[MsKatie]

I see this at times on the bike paths and cringe every time - I let my kids walk our kelpie - they are 9 and 11 - but they are next to me and I take the leash if I see anything that might be an issue - would not dream of letting them go out alone or have her pull them on a scooter - stupid woman

Edited September 25, 2010 by KelpieHoundMum

[sumosmum]

Too bad if I upset anyone, but STUPID STUPID STUPID MOTHER !!!!

Agree MM, Cruel, stupid mother. Poor puppy, I hope it will be okay and be taken to the vet. When children are brought up with this attitude from their parents, I think this is a lot of the reason some adults are cruel and neglectful to animals. They don't have good examples growing up, and the cycle continues. Bad attitudes and cruelty multiplies.

[persephone]

That Mum needs to have a think Puppy is probably quite badly injured .. kid is shook up, and bike rider is very lucky he didn't fall/get hurt.

That is irresponsible parenting.

[Red Fox]

I dont think the mother is cruel or stupid, just uninformed and probably not an experienced dog owner.

We had a Kelpie cross as kids and used to ride my bike with her, rollerblade with her and walk her on my own (I was around 11 or 12 at the time). She had no proper training and from memory I think I may have used a check chain half the time. In hindsight it was stupid and dangerous and lucky neither of us were ever injured, but at the time no-one batted an eyelid. Perhaps if someone had pointed out the dangers to my mum then she would have thought twice and not allowed it..

I would never allow a child to walk with a dog that they did not have full control of, and a child having full control of any dog that is not extremely small, elderly or 100% reliable is not likely.

[Brennan's Mum]

Poor puppy I hope they did take him to the vets. Just horrible thing for the pup, the young boy, the bike rider and all that witnessed it.

[Jodi1981]

Just as a quick comment but I think Riding a bike whilst towing a dog is illegal (at least in SA, I don't know about other states) as my brother was fined earlier this year for riding his push bike with his dog on the lead running next to him.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

It's against the australian road rules to lead or attach an animal to a moving vehicle on any road or road related area - which includes bike paths and shared use paths. About the only place you could do it is private property.

It's also illegal in most states to allow someone not of a responsible age (eg under 18) to be in charge of a dog. And it's illegal to walk a dog in a public place when it's not under effective control (eg on a lead 2m or less in the hand of a responsible person) or in an off lead area - under effective control - running under a bike wheel is not effective control.

So the mother broke about three laws at least.

The puppy probably has internal injuries - based on the blood coming out of the nose - head injuries or lung injuries.

But what could you do? Follow her back to her car, take her licence plate and report her to police and the RSPCA? Do you want to interfer that much or just leave the kelpie puppy to risk bleeding to death of internal injuries. what if the kelpie is fine?

If I was on a treadly and saw a kid coming at me like that - I'd have hit the skids well before they got to me. It's the worst thing about popular bike paths eg Linear Park in SA and around the lakes in Canberra, and around Swan River in WA. There's little kids and dogs and parents running everywhere. The parents don't go to the kids so they're all in one place when a bike wants to go past - they try to call the kids or pets across the path to them. Sometimes I wonder if having kids sucks some parent's brains out. And you can't afford to get any speed up on a treadly when you can't see far enough ahead to stop if some kid or dog or drunken adult runs in front of you. Or a snake.

I'd finally managed to get my co-ordination down enough to go down the hill behind the AIS in Canberra and into OConnor without needing to brake at the bottom corner next to the creek and the first time I do it - there's a brown snake crossing the bike path. We both freaked out, and managed to avoid each other but it was a near thing. I had my feet on the handlebars as I went past.

[Mas1981]

Poor poor puppy

[Swizzlestick]

Poor little pup.

If she (the mother) feels put out having to carry the dog to the car herself, I don't like his chances of making it to the vet.

Hope the little fella is OK, and the mother has learned a lesson.