Kirsten Larsen
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 19/99) - A four-month-old husky puppy has been confined to a cramped kennel for nearly two weeks now, off limits to his two-year-old owner Jeremy Suchlandt, after being brutally kicked right in his own front yard.

"Puppy", who has not been living with his owners, Leslie Suchlandt and Kevin Stannard long enough to have been given a proper name, is recovering from injuries which will keep him confined indoors for at least six more weeks. The vet bill is expected to cost around $900 once all the surgery is over.

Puppy has undergone surgery already to his femur which now has a temporary pin holding it together while it heals, but that's not the only injury he's recovering from.

"The vet said he has four fractures in his pelvic bone," said Puppy's owner Leslie Suchlandt.

"It fractured all of his calcium soft spots because he's just a puppy. His pelvis has to heal on its own because they can't do anything for it."

Puppy lives on a corner lot at 46 Trails End in a house trailer. The front slopes up towards the main road which is approximately three metres from the side of the home. Although it is a private yard, it is a well-used shortcut by pedestrians as well as vehicles bypassing the curve in the road.

Suchlandt said that on March 4, the night Puppy was injured, he was only outside for his usual 10-minute bathroom break at 9:30. Although Puppy was not on a leash when he went out, Suchlandt said he always stays in the yard, and that someone must have purposely hurt him while passing through the yard.

"The vet said he was definitely not hit my a motor vehicle," said Suchlandt. "He was either picked up and thrown or kicked pretty hard."

Puppy's owners said that wasn't the first time they found him injured after being outside.

"Two weeks before (the incident) it looked like he was kicked hard because he had a lump on his head," said Suchlandt.

Although Puppy is healing, he still has another expensive and painful appointment to attend at the vet clinic.

"It cost us $700 to get him fixed so far but he goes back in again for more," said Suchlandt. "He's going back in to get the pin (in his femur) taken out, so I guess it's surgery again. That will cost another $150. Hopefully the pelvis will heal on its own, but he has to stay off his legs."

Although Jeremy's two-month-old brother is too young to play with Puppy, Jeremy is anxiously awaiting the day that Puppy is fully recovered.

"Our two-year-old is upset because he can't play with him," said Suchlandt.

"We keep (Puppy) locked in a kennel in the bedroom and he can hear us but he can't come out because he can't walk on his legs or they won't heal. He (Puppy) cries pretty much all day. We carry him outside (to go to the washroom) and carry him back in and that's the only time he gets to go out."