Hi Aart! Glad you're semi-OK. I hope you either charged more the tuning or got her insurance information for all your check-ups! I've never been bitten (as a piano tech), but severly growled and barked at before, but the owners would put the dogs somewhere else. I love dogs, too, owned one all my life...now on #5, and 99% of the time can make friends with them right away. I always let them check me out and carefully check them out too whether or not they'll let me pet them. Sorry this happened to you! On the other end, I've had some dogs be my best friend at the door and actually wouldn't leave me alone while working on the pianos! "oh, please, please, pet me some more!", they say with those big beautiful eyes!! :>) Some have even fallen asleep on my feet while working... I would have never thought of KEVLAR gloves! Paul Aart in America Piano Services <aartinamerica at optonline.net> Sent by: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org 02/01/2009 08:27 AM Please respond to pianotech at ptg.org To Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> cc Subject [pianotech] The gift that saved me. Hello All. I usually only post technical questions, and your responses have always been extremely helpful and I thank you all. However I must share my personal experience at a new customer's home yesterday, and a Christmas gift from my wife that saved my right hand. As I opened the front gate of the home of a first-time customer I heard the barking of many dogs. I was not too concerned as I have many customers with dogs and I love animals. The Customer greeted me at the door and said "Come in, the piano is in the living-room." As I entered the house, I was immediately surrounded by EIGHT dogs, of all different breeds and sizes..(from poodles to spaniels to german shepards) Then she said "Oh, are you afraid of dog's?". I said no, I like dogs. At that moment, the 2 German Shepherds who were sniffing at me, (as the others were barking and growling), circled around me like sharks, and the one just clamped his teeth ferociously into my right hand and didn't let go. It felt like my hand was just slammed in a car door and immediately broken....the strength and pressure (and Pain!) was amazing. I knew I was injured. I dropped my tool box and bag and removed my leather glove expecting to see lots of blood. To my amazement, there was no blood and no puncture. It was all because my wonderful wife gave me a pair of leather gloves lined with KEVLAR at Christmas , I said to her "Why in the world would I ever need these?" She said "It's to protect your hands from sharp objects - they're your most valuable asset". I truly believe that had I not been wearing these gloves, with the verocity and pressure of that dog's bite, those big teeth would have went clean through the palm of my hand, and my piano tuning and playing days could possibly have been over. Although my hand muscles were traumatized (and the hospital advised me to follow up this week with an orthopedic surgeon for the swelling and pain), there is No puncture or visible wound, and most importantly, no cut tendons or nerves. The glove absolutely saved me from a more serious injury. I truly feel that these KEVLAR leather gloves are a valuable safety tool for all piano technicians (at least for those who live in cold weather states). Good chance I would have ended up in surgery yesterday if I wasn't wearing them. My wife purchased the Kevlar gloves on-line from an Army Navy supply house called Barres in Vermont. Their website is http://www.vtarmynavy.com for anyone interested in investing in a pair. Eileen said they cost about $24 bucks, but they are worth their weight in gold. PS The customer and her mother were very upset, and did call my wife last night to see how I was doing. We learned that the dogs were recently rescued, and their backgrounds were unknown. We only assume that they may have been abused. Moral of the story......Your hands are everything. Take extra steps to protect them from the unexpected!! Best regards, Aart Aart Markenstein Aart in America Piano Services Hoboken, N.J. 07030 201 406 2594 aartinamerica at optonline.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090201/f1181c3e/attachment.html>
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