Racing dog’s jolt snaps Julia’s neck
As the pitbull came hurtling in Julia Houghton’s direction, she thought it would dodge her.
Seconds later, the 18-year-old was flipped onto her head in a Hamilton dog park.
The impact broke her neck and fractured two other vertebrae.
‘‘It was like a back flip, but I only got as far as the head part hitting the ground,’’ she said.
The accident happened on the evening of Tuesday, September 11, when she was at Days Park in Chartwell.
The chunky pitbull came racing through when she, partner Connor Moir and red heeler cross Eevee were chatting with other dog owners.
It was chasing after another dog, and ran full tilt into the back of Houghton’s legs, she said.
‘‘I couldn’t believe how hard it hit me.
‘‘It ran straight through me and then it just kept going . . . It had absolutely no idea what it had done.’’
The dog wasn’t aiming for Houghton but the incident has put her in a neck brace, ruled out driving for eight weeks, and forced her to drop university for the semester.
The after-effects have prompted her to warn others about the damage a dashing dog can do, and to remind owners to keep their dogs under control in off-lead areas.
‘‘It wasn’t an aggressive dog or anything. It just hadn’t been trained that people are something to be respected,’’ the aspiring vet said.
The pitbull’s owner came over to check on Houghton, who – winded and not realising she was badly hurt – said she was good.
‘‘I got up and I was like, I’m not good. I was so sore and I couldn’t really walk.’’
She doesn’t remember getting back to the car, but the pain hit when she tried to get in and sit down. She got a painkiller injection that night and spent the next day in the emergency department at Waikato Hospital, before being admitted.
Scans revealed fractures in three vertebrae: C7 in her neck, and T1 and T2 at the top of her back.
‘‘I didn’t think a dog could do that much damage. I thought maybe it was just a sprain or just bruised,’’ she said.
‘‘I wasn’t expecting [the doctors] to say that I had broken my neck.’’
The ligament between the two upper back vertebrae had been stretched, Houghton said, so she was lucky nothing happened to her spinal cord and that she was still walking.
Even so, she’ll spend the next eight weeks in a neck brace – even when she sleeps and showers – and is on a mix of painkillers, which means she sleeps most of the day.
She can’t drive or stay independently in her flat, she said, so she’s moved home so her mum can keep an eye on her.
She has also left her part-time job and pulled out of university for the semester.
She had been studying a few papers to get her grade average up for a second shot at getting into veterinary school at Massey University, in Palmerston North.
There would be weekly X-rays for a while, to see how the breaks fused, she said, and hopefully she could avoid surgery.
‘‘Everyone asks me how it happened, expecting something like, I was in a car accident . . . No, I was just bowled over by a dog,’’ she said.
That’s why she wants to warn owners to make sure their fourpawed friends are under control in public areas.
The dog that hit her would have swerved for a tree, she said, but it obviously hadn’t been taught that people should be respected.
‘‘For dog owners, it’s so important that if you’re going to be letting your dog off-lead in a park, you need to be able to have full control of your dog,’’ she said.
‘‘It was like a back flip, but I only got as far as the head part hitting the ground.’’ Julia Houghton