It was a beautiful day in April. We were spending a few days away in our caravan with our 2 dogs Jake, the Utonagon and Ollie, the Border Collie.
We had been told about a beautiful walk along a canal not far from the campsite we were staying at. The views, we were told, were breath-taking.
Both dogs were off their leads. It was only on very rare occasions that we used a lead with Jake. He walked really close to heal, in fact he walked that close to us that he would often trip us up! And he would keep nudging us with his nose every few steps, just in case we had forgotten that he was there!
We had decided to let Ollie off his lead too. His recall was excellent and although he would wander off exploring, if he wandered a little bit too far away, we would just say "Wait" and he would stop until we caught him up. He was in his element! All these wonderful new smells and things to explore.
We were just about to walk over a very pretty stone bridge.
On our side the wall was about 4 foot high (1.22 meters)
On the other side of the wall was the most incredible view of rolling hills, a mixture of rocks and grassy banks, with a a sheer drop, approximately 30 foot (9.14 meters) right down to a huge reservoir.
I decided to wait just before the bridge; This would make a great photograph! So I told Paul to stand by the wall while I took his photograph, the background behind him was outstanding. Just as I had got the perfect shot in focus on my camera, I saw Ollie from the corner of my eye. He had been walking behind Paul, but in front of me. He suddenly picked up his speed and started running to catch Paul up. But, to my horror, he didn't stop running, he carried on and leapt right over the wall, obviously thinking that it was the same height on the other side!
It all happened so fast and was totally unexpected!!
A group of people close by gasped in horror!
I screamed his name and dropped my camera, Paul swore and shouted "Noooo!" at the sight of him flying over the wall.
Suddenly everything seemed to go in slow motion. From where I was standing I could see Ollie soaring through the air and saw the happy go lucky expression that he had worn on his face all day change to realisation...and then fear!
I rushed over to the wall where Paul was standing. A guy came rushing over from nowhere to help.
We all looked over the wall dreading what we were about to see. We all felt sure that if the jump hadn't killed him that he would be badly injured. He looked so far away....
Remarkably he had managed to avoid the reservoir and the huge rocks below and had landed on a small patch of grass, but his legs were all twisted underneath him!
Just as we were trying to find a way to get down to him to rescue him, he scrambled up onto all fours and started to climb up the hill towards us...We were gobsmacked that he was even able to stand up!
As he reached the top of the hill and walked slowly towards us, the people close by let out another gasp, but this time out of amazement, not fear.
We checked him over, felt every bone in his body, waited for him to flinch to show us where he was injured.
Remarkably he was fine! A little shaken up, but then that's understandable! He clung to us all the way back to the campsite. We were convinced that later that day or the following morning, once the adrenaline had worn off, that he would show signs of pain, maybe start limping or have some kind of swelling. We watched him closely for the following 2 weeks, checked for swelling or any signs of pain....But no!! He was completely uninjured, no broken bones, no swelling, not even a sprain!
Dogs can't fly, but Guardian Angels can and I'm pretty sure that Ollie's was with him that day.
This is the view from wall he leapt over!
