7/26 was a rough night.  While I was cutting wood in the back of our property my dog wandered away.  I think he must have found a neighbors trail leading out to the next road.....by the time we found him he had been shot and was surrounded by 6 caring neighbors who bandaged his wounded front leg and had kept him comfortable until we found him.  We are new to the neighborhood and in a remote area, so don't yet know many of our neighbors.  

Mav is 13 years old and we never dreamed he would go through this.  We have chickens, have had goats and many "wild" rabbits in the yard.  He doesn't pay attention to any of them and would certainly not harm them.  

Fast forward through the drama of finding out what had happened, we rushed him to the vet ER, got X-rays and found the leg wound was inoperable, we were left with euthanize or amputating.  Amputating the leg of a 13 year old dog was not easy, but this site helped convince me it was the right decision.  The amputation was Monday morning and he came home Tuesday morning.  Tuesday and Wednesday made us question our decision, but the progress has been steady and today has seen a huge improvement.  I had to carry him in and out the first two days, but today he is doing most of the work on his own.

We have a long road ahead and his future isn't certain, but hopefully our experience will help others in similar positions, as yours helped us.