Dog Electrocuted by Faulty Wiring, Stray Voltage Under City Sidewalk --Chien Électrocuté Par Courant Électrique Sous le Trottoire à Nice

Lamby the Electrocu-tie Pie.

Poor Lamby! A terrible thing happened to him. We were walking on the Rue de France, in Nice, France, Europe and Mom was looking in the shop windows again, drooling over more shoes. (I think Mom has even more than there are trees in the woods but she always stops in front of shoe stores and we have to wait around, sitting there, bored.)

So there we were in front of the shoe store and all of a sudden, Lamby started to SCREAM! He was louder than a New York Fire engine. His mouth was frozen open, his tongue was hanging out, he was drooling, screaming and rolling on on his back in the middle of the street. We didn't understand what was happening to him! Mom thought he was having a seizure and all the French people came out of their stores to ask if he was OK but he wasn't OK at all.

Mom was crying and picked him up but he wouldn't stop screeching. She thought maybe he had caught his bad foot (remember? He was badly injured when we got him from the pound. His back feet had been badly broken and all the skin was missing). Mom called Dad on the cel phone and he came running to carry Lamby back home.

It turns out, Lamby had very bad luck. He stepped on an electrical plate on the sidewalk and got zapped! Lamby was electrocuted! He was shaking and had pooped on himself, he got zapped so bad. Mom took us to see Dr. Chave on the Rue Lamartine, who told us that one of his patients DIED from being electrocuted by faulty wiring under the sidewalk. Dr. Chave was very aware of this problem, which happens in cities all over the world. Read the NY Times article about dogs being electrocuted just taking a walk! Or this article in the Boston Globe.

Our friends in Hollywood have all been calling to find out if Lamb's OK.

Rachel, the Pissed Kitty, left us a message: "Like he needs a higher hairdo!"

They are supposed to insulate wires under the sidewalk--the wires that light up the street lamps and other stuff so we can see when we take our walks at night. But the wires get old and they don't even know that the electricity can be conducted under the cement right up into our feet! People don't feel it because they wear shoes that protect them from it. But lots of dogs have gotten electrocuted. I guess it will take a bare-footed human brat to get killed by old, un-insulated wires under a sidewalk before anybody does something about this. Only certain kinds of humans care if we dogs get hurt.

Read this article about how a simple walk on a sidewalk could kill a dog! I wish that hadn't happened to Lamby, who's had such a hard life until we adopted him. He's gone through so much already with his broken feet. He didn't need more pain in his life.

Lamby is better, but we were all really scared. Mom went to the CHARMELLE shoe store (63 Rue de France, Nice, 06000, France) to tell the owner that they need to put up a sign to warn others. The lady who owns the store didn't even care. She refused to give Mom the name of the building management. She never asked how Lamby was or anything. She practically kicked us out while Mom was explaing that Lamby was almost killed by dangerous electrical currents right in front of her shop.

Mom is making a complaint to the Procureur de Nice (City Prosecuter). You know what's really weird? I was talking to some of my dog friends at the park today after we got back from the vet and a lot of the dogs know about it and jump over electrical plates so they don't get a nasty jolt. My friend Ouati, a dog who lives on Rue Alphonse Karr, told me she got electrocuted and she ALWAYS walks around the elctrical plates. Her mom also thought she had stepped on her foot or something.

I was so worried about my boyfriend Lamby, I had to drink half of Mom's beer just to calm down.

We're going to be really careful now because those electrical plates are everywhere! We might have to totally un-hippify ourselves and wear booties, like those celebritard dogs in Beverly Hills. Mom will have to shop for doggie shoes now. I hope she won't make us wear high heels or whory strappy sandals, like the dumb shoes she wears.