LAKE STEVENS – If Larry MacDonald had any doubts that miracles exist, they evaporated on a table in an animal emergency clinic in late December.
His dog, a 5-year-old mixed-breed, had a cracked skull, was partly paralyzed and had an arrow protruding from his head.
Now, nearly four weeks after somebody apparently used a compound hunting bow at close range on Chase, the animal is probably 85 percent back to normal, MacDonald said.
He has to keep urging the dog to take it easy and not run and jump. “He thinks he’s 98 percent back,” MacDonald said.
And thanks to donors to a reward fund, a $500 reward has been offered for information about the person who shot Chase late on the night of Dec. 26.
Soon after news reports about the likely random wounding of Chase, Everett-area animal lover Joann Deckard established a “For the Benefit of Chase” fund at Washington Federal Savings and Loan branches. The money is being used as a reward for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible.
Deckard had not met MacDonald nor Chase until Sunday. She was impressed. “It was just wonderful. What a great dog,” she said.
She jumped in to help MacDonald “for my own piece of mind. I needed to do something.” The shooting was “just horrific.”
The night of the injury, MacDonald said he was devastated. He at first thought he should put down the severely wounded animal. Chase’s left eye didn’t work. And he wore down the nails of the paws on his paralyzed left side trying to clamber up the steps to MacDonald’s home on 44th Street NE just off Highway 92.
Then he saw that Chase’s right side appeared to be fine, and that good eye seemed keen and alert. “There was no way I was going to put him down after that,” he said.
MacDonald rushed the dog to Animal Emergency Clinic on Rucker Avenue in Everett, where medical personnel removed the metal-tipped arrow, which was embedded in Chase’s skull.
The prognosis was grim. There was a question whether the dog would walk again, be fully alert or even survive. Chase proved the experts wrong.
“He’s an amazing dog,” MacDonald said. “I always thought he was special, but now it’s pretty obvious.”
From the downward angle and depth of the penetration of the arrow, MacDonald speculates that somebody was just feet away from the dog, which stays outside in the yard. Perhaps, he wonders, somebody got a new bow for Christmas and wanted to try it out.
MacDonald is humbled by the public response. People sent in donations to the animal clinic to pay the dog’s medical bills, which MacDonald and his wife, Renee, already have paid. He spent more than $1,200 on the emergency, and Chase may need more treatment.
MacDonald sends notes – and a picture of Chase – back to those folks who donate with his thanks and their check. He also lets them know about the reward fund because he wants the culprit captured.
Deckard said about $1,200 has been contributed to the reward fund. The reward might be increased if the culprit isn’t identified soon. If there’s money left over, she and MacDonald have discussed donating it to help the elderly pay for veterinarian bills.
It’s MacDonald’s belief the attack was random, but there’s lingering doubt that some unknown person has it out for him. “You always have that over-the-shoulder feeling,” he said. “What’s this all about?”
In the meantime, MacDonald wants to enjoy his friendly, 85-pound dog, a combination pit bull, German shepherd and malamute. Chase’s hair has grown back around the head wound, and MacDonald hopes the dog will be back to 100 percent in a few months.
Why not? After all, “he’s a miracle,” MacDonald said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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