On the Wrong End of a Dog Attack

It’s been almost two weeks now, and I’m still angry. Still angry that my sweet, docile and loving, albeit sometimes annoying dog got attacked by not one, but two Rottweilers and that I could do nothing to protect her. And I’m still absolutely bloody furious that the Rottweilers’ owner knew they were dangerous, but still let them run loose.

But you don’t know the story, so let’s go back to the beginning.

Sasha the dog and I went for a run at lunchtime a couple of weeks ago. It's a game I play every now and then, where I go wheezing round the neighborhood and convince myself that in just a few short weeks I'll be back to the full marathon-running peak of my youth. Then after 3 or 4 goes, I hurt myself, or my allergies kick in, or I have a hangover or something and it all gets put on hold for a while longer. However, this time things were progressing well, I was following a beginners plan from the Runners World web site and we’d been out a few times with no problems.

Until this fateful day when we were grunting our way up a short hill and were set upon by 2 Rottweilers. I'm not just talking snarling and growling, the fucking things were out for blood. They made no attempt to harm me, but they were both savagely attacking Sasha, biting her repeatedly on the neck, head and hindquarters, one going for her throat, the other for her tail.

And of course, because I was just out running, I wasn’t carrying a walking stick, or a gun or a machete with which to beat them off. It’s many years since I played football, but I can still pack a kick. However, running shoes don’t carry much of an impact and my pounding wasn’t even registering. A month or so earlier, I would have been walking in my steel toes, and I guarantee they would have felt that, but no such luck this time. Now as a reminder, I'm an animal lover, dogs in particular but I'm not kidding, if I'd been able to find a stick or a decent sized rock I would happily have beaten these bastards into piles of mush.

The attack seemed to go on for hours, although of course, it was only a few minutes. Finally, they broke away and I realized that was only because their owner was calling. So, I stomped over and confronted him in his driveway. He was all apologies, and seemed genuinely horrified. Among other things, he promised he would "have them put down today". I wasn't really expecting that but we talked for a few more minutes and I asked him if he didn't have a fenced dog run for them.

It turns out he does but get this...lets them out for a few minutes a day “so they can run around the yard”. When I asked if this meant the dogs had escaped from their fenced run today, he explained that no, he let them out in the open. Uhm yeah, run around the yard and 200 yards up the road where they can attack a dog that just happened to be passing by on a lead.

At the time, Sasha didn’t appear to be badly hurt, but as she was bleeding from the ear, I told him I'd take her to the vet to be checked and he said he'd pay the bill. OK, fair enough, we swapped names, shook hands and I set off home. Except on the way, I was met by a lady who had seen the attack from her deck and had come out in her car to look for me. She explained that to her knowledge, this had happened twice before. In both cases he'd been very apologetic and had promised to euthanize the dogs. She told me she was afraid to walk her own dog in case the two of them came after her.

So, back home and on the blower to Animal Control. Sure enough, they'd had 2 complaints before but in one of them, the complainant hadn't wanted to sign an official statement, so there was nothing they could do. The neighbor lady had already called them however, and had told them she'd be happy to do so this time. Which means that between us, we might be able to make sure something gets done. The story is he's facing a day in court, a big fine, whatever the definition of 'big' is, and will have a restraining order put on his dogs. So, if he doesn't euthanize them (and there's no reason to think he will), but they get out again, they're toast whether they attack anyone or not. He'll also be legally required to compensate me for the vet's bill.

And onto that. The ear puncture was through to the cartilage, and required stitches. Not only that, the vet found numerous other puncture wounds and bruising on her flanks and body. Oh and one eye's bloodshot where they must have nailed her in the face. She ended up being shaved in so many placed she looks like she has the mange, and for a day or two, she did nothing but lie around, looking very sorry for herself. Fortunately, she has long hair, particularly around the neck and that saved things from being much, much worse. Without that, I really think they would have killed her.

Naturally, when Animal Control visited the owner, he refused to let them on his property and is claiming that he has no money and can’t pay the vet bill after all. I suppose it must be tough to get by in a $3/4 million house with 4 cars in the drive.

But we’re not done yet. The Animal Control lady called at the house a couple of days ago to pick up my signed statement, and told me that since Sasha, the Rottweilers have attacked yet another dog. And still this clown lets them run loose. But such is the law, there’s little Animal Control can actually do prior to his court date. Which isn’t until July. Do you wonder how many more dogs they’ll attack before then?

The good news is, Sasha appears to have bounced back quite nicely, and once the stitches come out in a couple of days, she should be none the worse for wear. Which is good, because while I may refer to her as The World’s Most Irritating Dog™, I do love her.