Show dog hurt

By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

May 02, 2008 12:01 am

— GENEVA — A fawn-colored champion of the show ring, Johnny Walker Red trotted out of a Colorado dog show last weekend with a third-place performance.
Little did his owners know he would trot into a veterinarian’s office Thursday morning, the victim of a possible bullet wound.
“We are not sure if this is a bullet wound or just a puncture wound, but it looks a lot like a very clean bullet hole in his side,” owner Heather Pellegrino said.
Pellegrino was going about her morning routine at her home on Chestnut Street when her 5-year-old son Nicholas said something was wrong with Walker.
“Walker was acting completely normal, so normal I might not have noticed the wound when I put him in his kennel for the day,” Pellegrino said. “But my son noticed right away. He said, ‘Someone shot my dog,’” she said.
Pellegrino said Walker was having some trouble breathing by the time she got him to North Ridge Veterinary Clinic in Madison Township.
Walker is a Dogue de Bordeaux and is rated third nationally by the American Kennel Club. The dog who starred in the movie “Turner and Hooch” was a Dogue de Bordeaux. At 8 months old, Walker is 115 pounds of happy pooch, Pellegrino said.
Walker spent more than three hours in surgery Thursday and has a good prognosis for recovery, Pellegrino said.
“The vet seemed to think he would pull out of this just fine,” she said. “I guess the concern is that Walker wasn’t loose when this happened. He was with my other two dogs, but there was no barking or growling going on. I’ll feel better when we know what the wound really is.”