Dog survives drowning attempt - Tied to brick, terrier struggles to river bank

Donna Davison could not believe what she saw in the rear-view mirror. It made her sick.

Standing behind her car on Brant County Road 22 just after 7 a.m. was a wet, sand-covered dog – its neck dragged down by a brick fastened to its collar with a bolt.

It seems, she said, someone threw the dog in the river to dispose of it. But the dog managed to get out of the water.

It also appears the dog may have had a recent litter of puppies and Donna and the staff at the Chedoke Animal Hospital  wonder what happened to them.

On her way home from a night shift as a nurse at the Jay Silverheels Lifelong Care Centre in Ohsweken, Donna was taking the back roads home to the west Mountain in Hamilton when she spotted the dog near the river.

“I had driven by and noticed the dog along the road was kind of leaning,” she said today. “I looked in the mirror and, my God, I saw the brick.”

Horrified, Donna slammed on the brakes and ran back to the shivering dog.

“I took the brick off. She was soaking wet and covered in sand. There was a bolt right through the (house) brick tied to her collar.”

Sick at heart, Davison fought back the urge to vomit and bundled the frightened animal into the back and headed for the Chedoke Animal Clinic on Mohawk Road where she takes her own dog.

“When I got there, it was closed but I pounded on the door and someone opened it up,” she said.

“I was crying. I felt sick and then I got mad. Who could do a thing like this? Someone ought to really kick their ...”

Anita Saczyk at the Chedoke clinic says the medium size, five-year-old terrier-mix dog is doing well. They’ve dubbed her ‘River’ after her rescue .