Our dog Buddy recently disappeared one evening. We live on a 200 acre ranch and our dogs have the run of the ranch, so occasionally we don't see them for a few hours at a time. They always come home at some point. But when I saw Zeke, and no Buddy that night, and then again that morning I was worried. Especially since it had been one of the coldest weeks we'd had all winter, getting down to 20 below zero at night.
Of course Justin was out of town, so I did my best to look for him and call him, but he never showed up. Then there is a knock at the door. When I answered, there was a man who explained that he had some fox snares near by and had just set a very large white dog free from one and was wondering if that was our dog. Sure enough, a few minutes later, here comes Buddy limping around the corner.
I brought him inside, ( a treat in itself) and looked at his foot. It did not look good. His left front paw was swollen from the knee joint and frozen solid from the ankle joint down. I called a vet and thawed it out, but I was not hopeful. While talking to the vet, I asked about amputation, and how he would do. He told me that it would be sad. A dog of that size, and it being a front leg, he would not have much of a life.
I just didn't know what else to do. But Hunter did. He said, "Mommy, we should pray that Buddy's leg will get better." I told him that that was a good idea. And for the next week Hunter said hundreds of prayers for Buddy. I was still preparing the kids for the chance that we may have to put Buddy down if his leg didn't get better. But Hunter was insistent. "Mom, but I PRAYED that it would get better, Buddy's leg WILL be better!"
The kids helped me "hold" Buddy down, while I thawed out his foot
I was so touched to see the faith of my little boy. He KNEW that because he had prayed, his leg WOULD be better. I was the one who was lacking faith. But after several trips to the vet, multiple bandage changes, a course of prednisone and antibiotics and Hunter's prayers...Buddy's leg is fine. He did loose all of his toenails and pads. The pads have since grown back and we'll see about the nails, but he is using it as if nothing ever happened!
Now the joke at our house is that if you need something to happen, have Hunter pray for it! Once he started to pray for the house in Green River to sell, it did. He prayed for Buddy's foot to get better and it did. He prayed for a baby brother, and he got one! So let us know if you have something that needs to happen, we'll let Hunter know.
