It's Just not Her Weekend

Flowering Vine in Santa Cruz Mountains 182/365

Poor Juno. She's had one hell of a weekend. It started off with the fox tail surgery on Friday. On Saturday, after I wrote her post, we took a walk along one of our favorite quiet roads in the mountains. It's a semi-private road that is maintained by the county and open to walkers, bikers and horse riders. I know most of the neighbors on the road who've told me as such. There is just one who is negligent with his dogs. That dog ran out of his yard, along with 3 other in his pack, and attacked Juno very badly yesterday. It bit her on the back-end and wouldn't let go.

Normally in cases like this, I let the slack go on Loki's leash and he does a very good job holding off dogs from attacking me or Juno but I don't know what I was thinking yesterday holding him back. When I finally let the slack go, but kept hold of the leash, he got the dog off of her better than what the owner, who was there, could do.  I'm not proud of Loki being a dog fighter but when it's necessary, he does a very good job. He's fast, strong and cujo enough not to get hurt himself.  Most dog's will back down to him. I never encourage it, but living in unincorporated mountain area where there's little support from the county to help mitigate negligent dog owners, I do whatever it takes to protect myself and my fragile dog, Juno. And Loki's always our best defense. I've handled many dog attacks this way successfully. Loki never gets hurt, Juno stays protected and we go on our way.  But for some reason, I had a massive brain-fart (Lyme brain) and poor Juno took a huge bite.

The owner was not only not remorseful, but a thoughtless moron who could give a rat's ass about any of it. Thankfully, neighbors in the community supported my right to walk on the road and encouraged me to report him to Animal Control, which I will do. Apparently, the dog has bitten as many as 7 people but no neighbor has reported it because they're all "dog lovers" and feel bad for the dog. I can't help but feel that way either. I have a lot of tolerance for dog fight incidents on dog walks, even if dogs are off-leash. If the owner is there and does a good job recalling or feels responsible for his part in his dog's behavior, I chock it up to "shit happens." But in cases where the owner is severely negligent, I have to at least file a report. I hope some good comes of it. Apparently, the neighbors have been held hostage by this neighbor's dogs for 15 years! They can't ride their horses or walk by the house without fear of a dog attack. That has to stop.

I walked a little further to a nearby church and our pet sitter, "Auntie Diane" to the dogs, picked us up and drove us home so I could get to the vet quickly. The vet found no puncture but abrasion and muscle bruising. The antibiotics and Rimydyl she's on now for the foxtail incident will help with the attack and pain.  Mr. Wild Dingo met us at the vet and the three of us took a small walk in town (her favorite place to walk) and sat in the park with a pup cup.  I'm still shaken up over the incident and feel horrible that my poor sweet dog had to endure pain like that. But Juno? She's already over it and was bouncy and happy this morning. She's a brave, happy dog. If only I could learn to be more like her.

We will continue to walk there when we want, but with a big can of pepper spray in my hand, as one of the neighbors had advised me to do prior to the incident. I just didn't believe an attack like that could happen with the owner right there. I've learned my lesson.  Pepper spray in the hand and Loki out on the edge of the leash to keep any dog away from us.