AR-News: (ME - US) Wounded collie-shepherd and disabled veteran forge friendship

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Last update: March 18, 2004 at 9:00 AM
Vietnam vet, wounded dog form bond
Associated Press 
  
March 18, 2004 DOG19 
  
   
  
FARMINGTON, Maine -- Perhaps it's no surprise that the wounded collie-shepherd and the disabled Vietnam veteran who rescued him forged a fast friendship.

They share a common bond: Each suffered injuries from a bullet to the head.

The tan and white dog is recuperating at Clearwater Veterinary Hospital, where Elwin Churchill shows up twice a day to walk him on a leash.

Churchill found the dog wounded and bleeding along a road and took him to the hospital. He named him Patterson - after veterinarian Dr. Robert Patterson, who performed emergency surgery Friday.

``This dog and I have a lot in common. I was in Vietnam in '67 and '68 and I still have part of a bullet in my head,'' said Churchill, who was 18 when he was wounded.

The Vietnam vet suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome and lives in a secluded home not far from the spot on Mosher Hill Road where he found Patterson while driving into town Friday morning with his son.

``We found him in the middle of the road and when I pulled over, the dog crawled under the truck. He was looking for a place to die,'' Churchill said.

Churchill coaxed the dog out, gently lifted him up and placed him on blankets in the back of his pickup.

The bullet entered on the right side of the dog's mouth, shattering several teeth and the jaw and tearing the tongue before exiting the throat. Police were investigating.