The culture of owning dogs in rural Indonesia is vastly different from what many people in the West are accustomed to. Many people here believe that dogs are to be owned to work, rather than to provide companionship. This means that dogs, at least in this village, tend to be treated with less compassion than, say, cats or birds. Here is my encounter with an injured dog in the village.

The Injured Dog

About three weeks ago, a volunteer came into the house telling me that there was an injured dog in a ditch outside crying. I ran out to see a small crowd of people peering down above a puppy who had just been hit by a motorbike. She was clearly in a lot of pain, and I knew I had to do something to help. I got a towel and threw it over her – she was so terrified that she became aggressive in self-defense and I did not want her to bite me. Thankfully a fellow-dog lover happened to be passing by, and helped me carry her out of the ditch.

Trying to Help

There was nothing I could find but a bucket, so we gently placed her in the bucket wrapped in the towel. By this time it was very clear that her front leg was broken very badly. This being rural Indonesia, there were no cars to safely place her in. So I jumped on the back of a motorbike and rode down the mountain to the closest veterinarian.

This was a very small town doctor, and he was at a loss for what to do. He gave her an injection to help with the pain, and told me I would have to go a large city. This happened right at the beginning of the holiday Idul Fitri, meaning that traffic was at its annual high. It would take me 12 hours or more to get there.

Feeling Defeated

I took the puppy, who I called Luigi, back home, placing her as comfortably as I could on a stack of blankets and pillows. We stayed awake together all night. She intermittently slept for a few hours, then awoke crying out in pain. I felt helpless and at a loss for what I could do to help her. What I could see on the surface of her leg was only a tiny part of the story; she could very well have internal injuries as well.

Better News, then Worse News

Early the next morning, I gained some much needed help! Our tracker manager, Dendi, helped me search for a veterinarian closer to us, and we succeeded! I was relieved, until he took one look at the puppy’s leg and told me that he would need to amputate it immediately. My brief relief ended quite abruptly. I know that many dogs live long, wonderful lives with three legs, and they can adapt extremely well. But here, dogs are seen as workers, rather than pets. I was scared that a three-legged dog in this village would be doomed to be unwanted. I spoke with the veterinarian, and he agreed to try to set the bone first, and see after a few weeks if it got any better. If it was not better, amputation was his recommendation.

Despair, then Joy

For the following days, I was terrified the leg would not heal. It remained extremely swollen, and leaking fluid. I knew that could be a serious sign of infection, so I took her back to the doctor. He cut the cast off and gave her a new one, and within 24-hours her leg was not swollen any more. The cast had just been too tight!

After a few weeks, she started to use the leg to walk. A few days later, she was running all over the garden, causing complete havoc the way that energetic puppies do. Today, after three weeks of taking care of her, I returned her to her extremely grateful owner. I will miss her, but I am so happy I was there to save her when she was injured. Now, she is back home. And although the standards for pet care here are very different than back home, I know her owner very much loves her and is happy to have her back. I will go around to his house as often as I can to see her, play with her, and go on walks.