I was in my local park early this morning walking my dogs. I saw in the distance a little lad around 10 or 11 with his English Springer Spaniel on a flexi lead. His dog was a little bit excited running all over the place but the little lad was handling him pretty good until out of the blue the dog bolted and SPLAT the boy hit the ground - face first - let go of the lead (after he fell rather than letting go to save his poor head!) - and off went the dog without looking back - running all over the place.

I grabbed one of the local lovely old couples walking past and thrust my two dogs & two leads at them asking them to not lose them and ran to the little boy. He was still lying on the floor - not crying but really still - I managed to get him to talk to me and tell me where he hurt and if he could move - I saw that he had a huge conk on his head that was already a blue bruise, a scrape on his chin, and huge scrape on his arm - but he didn't cry - though obviously in real bad pain - he said his head and arm were fine and that his leg hurt but he was okay - then looked up at me and started to well up with tears and asked - "is my dog okay, has she disappeared?"

I grabbed him and shuffled him over to the side off the path but still on his bum, not stood up, and told him to stay there and not move. Then I ran around, found the dog, "Jess" and got her back on her lead and took her back to the boy. Then asked him to see if he could stand and where his parents were. He could stand but not put weight on his foot but still - no crying - told me his parents were at home and that he lived in basically the road that the park entrance is on. He insisted he was okay to get home and could walk and wouldn't let me take him there so off he went in the right direction with his dog.

I grabbed mine back (in fact had to literally pry my dogs off the elderly couple who had taken a real shine to my little boy) and went about my walk. I was thinking about how tough that little boy had been - no hysterics, everything was just about his dog. I was worried about him getting home with that conk on his head and how the parents should be told how he got it when I went around the bandstand on our second loop of the park.

And there the boy was. Walking like a snail, hopping almost unable to put his foot on the floor at all, walking in the opposite direction to his house, and even stopping to pick up his dog's poo.

I went over to give him a hand or should I say a push to his parents house - trying to decide if I should borrow someones shopmobilty scooter or something to get him home as I didn't like the way he was hobbling. But the boy point blank refused to go home!  His exact words were "I'm okay, Mum will sort it when I get home, Jess didn't get a walk yesterday because it was too hot, she NEEDS her walk today!"

I gave in and said okay and off he went............... and yes I stalked at a distance the whole way around his walk and made sure I saw him go in his house safely.

BUT HOLY MOLEY - talk about restoring my faith in human nature.  It will be a long time til I forget that little boy.

Sorry - just had to share!

That's really nice.

Just goes to prove there are still lots of decent kids out there, normally we only hear about the numpties and wazzocks.
And well done to you too, he could easily have had concussion and you made sure he was safe!

> And well done to you too, he could easily have had concussion and you made sure he was safe!

Don't know about that - I don't have kids of my own and as I was trying to help him I didn't know what was okay to do - I wanted to start pulling and look at his leg and things like that but wondered if that was appropriate or not these days - plus he was being so tough and holding back the waterworks and trying to be a man about it I didn't think he wanted coddling.  I was sort of relieved to be able to go get the dog and feel like I was helping since I wasn't much use as a nurse and was feeling really awkward! Dogs I'm fine with - kids ... not so much! And my goodness that little dog Jess was stunning!

Anyway - its a nice thought to have when out each day when surrounded with the numpties and wazzocks; that there's a lad out there that cares so much for his dog he would hobble the whole way around the park in clear pain on one leg just so that his dog got her walk.

I never let my kids take my dogs for a walk unaccompanied (not until adult and then rarely)

Well I think you did a good job. Better than doing nothing and finding out later that he'd collapsed or something.
At the end of the day (IMO) there's not a great deal of difference between kids and dogs, they both want someone to love and look after them, to keep them safe and healthy.

What a lovely story and well done to you for trying to help, many people don't these days.

Hope the young lad is okey, do let us know if you see him again.

It is a lovely story and sorry, here I come with the negatives.  I think you should notify his parents, he could have had a concussion with repercussions later on.  The dog is obviously too much for that little boy, he probably should not be walking Jess on his own.  What's an ESS weigh, 40 pounds?  My field bred girl was 40 pounds.  Even in a bench bred ESS, that's a lot of energy for a small person to manage.

Sorry, it is a really nice story.  The older couple sound like they helped out a lot too.  Thank you for sharing.  :)

> I think you should notify his parents, he could have had a concussion with repercussions later on.  The dog is obviously too much for that little boy, he probably should not be walking Jess on his own.

After I saw him go in his house I dropped my dogs off home  & then knocked on his door and talked to his Mum. I didn't say anything about the boy walking the dog but she did say that she would make sure her boy walked Jess on a short leash rather than a flexi lead. I didn't have the guts to tell her that she shouldn't let her boy take him on his own but I think a short lead will at least help (at least she wont be able to gather momentum when  she chases squirrels if she is on a short lead).

OH good, thanks for the update.