This Piccolo Plays a Painful Tune After Breaking Leg in Home Accident

Our Italian Greyhound Piccolo had just turned 1 year old. He was extremely lively, and absolutely loved attention. Like any dog, whenever the doorbell would ring, he would fly to our front door, anticipating company. This meant leaping off my bed, which was about 2 1/2 feet from the floor. He would then begin his run, just as fast as any greyhound could, down a 17 foot hallway. This corridor would then turn to the left, only to be joined by a second hallway of lesser distance. We had only lived in this house for about a week or two, but Piccolo had this obstacle course memorized.

One afternoon, the bell let out its characteristic sound, and was followed by a blood-curdling yelp. I cringed with fear, as I heard Piccolo’s cries continuing, getting louder with each agonizing minute. He had jumped off the bed, and inappropriately landed himself in the first hallway, breaking the radius and ulna on the left side of his body. My husband held his little front leg together, as we tried to get help, first stopping at a pet store that had an attached clinic. They were only able to wrap his leg loosely and told us we needed to find additional help. I then ventured forward with my daughter-in-law to an emergency animal hospital. Both places, people turned to see who was making such painful yelps. Finally, they took the three of us into the examining room. He had his leg x-raid, confirming the diagnosis.

He was operated on that day. The doctor gave him a steel plate for his broken limb. What a way to start his little life! By the next day, Piccolo was coming home.

The operation cost us $2,400, after which we took out a policy for Piccolo with VPI. We still are living in the same house. However, we removed our bed frame so that the mattress sits directly on the floor, and we disconnected our doorbell. The shocking part of this story was that the person who had rung our doorbell, had come there to look at the house to see if it was suitable for her. There had apparently been a misunderstanding with our landlord. Above Piccolo’s cries, we told her that we were living there already, and that our dog had just broken his leg. She responded by asking if we could still show her the house!