Lucky dog OK after gunshot

By John Grant Emeigh - 01/07/2009

Walter Hinick / The Montana Standard Danelle Jardine is pictured Tuesday with her dog, Clover, who was shot in the upper part of his right leg on New Year's Eve.

Maybe it was because he was born on St. Patrick's Day.

Or maybe it's because his name is Clover.

Whatever the reason, his owner thinks he's one lucky dog.

Despite being shot in the upper part of his right leg on New Year's Eve, Clover appears to have made a full recovery and remains an active 9-month-old canine.

"The bullet went right through his leg without hitting any vital organs," Clover's owner Danelle Jardine said Tuesday.

Jardine filed a police report, but the shooter hasn't been found.

She said she's angry that someone would shoot her dog, which is an akita mix, and wants to warn other pet owners in her neighborhood that this happened.

"I don't know how someone could be so cruel," she said outside her home in the 1400 block of Short Street, in a neighborhood on Butte's East Side.

Her dog accidentally got out of her house while she was working at Perkin's on New Year's Eve. She said she doesn't allow her dogs to roam.

Her mother, Melanie Baltezar, stopped by Jardine's home later that day and saw the dog running free. But she also saw something that shocked her.

"We noticed bleeding on his leg," Baltezar said.

She added that the dog only had a slight limp, but didn't appear to be suffering too much.

The police officer who responded to their complaint said the dog was likely shot with a .22-caliber or smaller caliber bullet, Baltezar said.

Jardine treated the wound with antibiotics and it's started to heal.

She said no one has the right to shoot her dog, which isn't aggressive.

"Even if it got into somebody's garbage, a simple yelling at the dog would do," she said.

The assailant might shoot another pet, she said.

"Whoever did this is still out there," she said.

— Reporter John Grant Emeigh may be reached via e-mail at john.emeigh@lee.net or by telephone, 496-5511