Photo: SWNS.com
Turns out the source of our original post had a few facts wrong. Su Smith (Dr. Smith's wife), writes on the Cumberland Valley Animal Hospital website, that Smokey's owner was actually feeding Smokey and their other, larger dog, scraps from the barbecue when the accident occurred. She mistakenly used the fork to shoo away her bigger dog so Smokey could get his share. That's when the fork came flying out of its handle and straight into the soft spot the puppy still had in his skull from when he was born.
The story of Smokey's miraculous survival has become huge -- as a matter of fact, when Paw Nation called the Smiths, they were walking into the "Inside Edition" studio. This is due largely to the fact that Dr. Smith agreed to x-ray, sedate, and operate on Smokey at his own expense if he was allowed to take the miraculous story public. He felt it was too good of a human interest story not to take to the local paper. Without this offer, Smokey's family would otherwise not been able to afford all that Smokey needed to survive and would have been forced to put the poor puppy down.
As the story grew, so did the anger of some animal lovers. "We've gotten, I don't know how many irate calls from people who can't understand why the fire department, police, and other help wasn't called out to help this dog," Dr. Smith told Paw Nation. "And they want to know how we could release Smokey back to the family -- how did we know it wasn't animal abuse? To understand that, there are a few things they need to know."
The Doggie Diaries: At the Dog Park, Part 1 -- The Brawl
