Dogfight Part Deux

Me and the girls. Who'd a thought that tiny baby puppy would turn out to be so much trouble?

After the last dogfight, I began using the collars again and the dogs behaved. However, Sean did not. Well, recently he got his comeuppance.

On Monday, during my daily 2 hour nap, he was out near the garage with the woman from the Land Trust who is organizing the Bluebird Box Project transferring predator guards to her car. (We store bluebird box materials in our garage.) He was showing off how well Jenny fetches a stick and can catch them in midair. Then, Laila got the stick and began to taunt Jenny with it. Sean tried to get another stick for Jenny but it was too late. The dogs began to fight.

Sean commanded them to stop. No response. No control collars were in place to stop the fight, so fed up; Sean just pounced on top of the dogs. Sean weighs 200 pounds (90.9 kilograms: Laila is 74 lbs or 33.6 kgs, and Jenny is 67 lbs or 30.4 kgs). There was no effect on the fight. He tried to separate the dogs with no effect. Jenny had a solid purchase on Laila’s shoulder, so Sean put his hand in Jenny’s mouth, which he later told me he knew was a big mistake, and as you might imagine he was bitten by Jenny. Then, the dogs separated. Sean got up and the dogs began the fight again. Sean jumped onto them again and managed to separate them by pulling on their collars. He then lay on top of Laila and she stayed in place, accepting his protection, while Jenny circled angrily, breathing hard and juiced up on adrenaline. After some time, Jenny calmed down. Sean brought Jenny into the house. The Land Trust lady was freaking out (she is a cat person and has two Persian cats). Sean looked at his bitten middle finger and he had a couple of puncture wounds and two lacerations. We only had smallish band aids in the house and he used those to dress the wounds as he bled all over the place.

He went back outside and checked Laila for bleeding. Not finding any, he put her in the house and put Jenny in his car. He explained to the Land Trust lady that he needed to go to the Emergency Clinic for the bite. She understood, and wished him well. They both drove off.

Meanwhile, I arose from my nap. I found the bathroom full of bloody band aids and Laila had bled on the couch from a small shallow puncture wound on her shoulder. I just figured that a tick had dropped off of her and that Sean had cut his finger leaving a mess as usual. Men.

Sean arrived at the Emergency Clinic. He didn’t have to wait long before he was taken in. He saw a physician’s assistant and told him he was bitten by a dog. The PA told Sean that they would have to report the incident and could they have the name of the dog. Sean said that it was one of his dogs, but he wasn’t sure which one, but they both were up on their rabies shots. (Liar, liar, pants on fire! But, if he told them it was Jenny it would be two strikes against her since she has already done hard time for getting loose and scratching a little kid while playing.) They didn’t want to put stitches in because they like to keep small wounds open in case of infection. They cleaned the wounds, gave him a tetanus shot and discharged him with a prescription for a week of antibiotics. Sean went to the pharmacy to fill the prescription and while there also bought a sterile scrub for cleaning the wound, gauze, and tape. He ran into many people he knew there and told them the story of how he had done something really stupid and they told him how his wife was right and he should have listened to her.

Then, he came home to me and told me this whole charming tale. I could not believe the stupidity of putting one’s hand anywhere near a fighting dog’s mouth. But, he has learned the hard way. He is telling everyone that he was bit by a rare spotted shark while banding it off the coast of Borneo. It’s a tough and dangerous job, but someone has got to do it to save our environment for the children, or so he says. The Land Trust lady called later that evening to make sure he was okay.

So, guess who is using the control collars now?