Margie Kacoha, Palm Beach Daily News

A Midtown resident is holding her dog, Charlie, in protective custody following his brush with a man-o-war on an isolated stretch of beach last week that led to an emergency ride in a patrol car.

Sharon O’Neil didn’t know quite what to do Thursday afternoon when her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was cowering in pain under a bush after he stepped on the stinging invertebrate. He was unable to walk home and O’Neil found herself without a ride to Island Animal Hospital.

What’s a doting dog owner to do?

She called 911 and an officer came to rescue them along South Ocean Boulevard near Via La Selva in the Estate Section.

Charlie “stepped right on the tentacles,” O’Neil said.

“He cried when it first happened. He’s a real wuss,” she said.

She said her dog received an injection, and a tuck-in call from the vet’s office that night.

Charlie is 11/2 years old and weighs 18 pounds.

Veterinarian Mary Ellen Scully said a typical treatment in this type of case would be a steroid injection.

O’Neil said she and Charlie walk on beach several times a week. She said he is doing fine, but she hasn’t yet tried to coax him back to the scene of the aquatic assault.

“He’ll get his bravery back,” she said.

Only in Palm Beach can you get this kind of help when calling police, O’Neil said.

“That’s what we do,” Deputy Police Chief Daniel Szarszewski said Tuesday. “No matter what the problem is, we’ll try to come up with a solution. I’m glad we were able to assist her.

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