IPickedADaisy
Crazy Bulldog Lady
I know this is long and I apologize for that but I wanted to get this out so I can hopefully get past it myself. I'm not even sure if this is the right forum to include it. Daisy was attacked by a pitbull at the dog park Thursday night after work. Thankfully she will recover physically.
She is such a friendly dog with people and animals. I swear she thinks every living thing is put on this earth to love her. I have had dogs all my life but honestly never one like Daisy. Maybe itās partly because Iām grown up (haha not going to say Iām old!) and have the time to devote to her, or just that her personality is so endearing, but she is the best dog ever.
I take her all over and even got rid of my Camaro so I could get a car that would be easier to take her along. We go to Petmart at least once a week & Bulldog meetups (at dog park or beach) at least monthly so she can socialize with people and dogs. Itās odd to watch the bulldogs at the meetups because they all hang out together. Other dogs come & go into the group but the bulldogs all seem to prefer each other. Because she enjoys the meetups so much I decided to take her to our own local dog park.
Weāve been several times and she loves it. She runs much more than she should, gets exhausted, drinks way too much water, runs some more, pukes up the water, runs some more, visits all the humans and some of the dogs. She is always very submissive to the dogs (as a result of a dog that scared her in Petsmart when she was a puppy). Regardless of size of dog, she crouches when she gets near them and then rolls over if they get close. Once the other dog is satisfied sheās not a threat she gets up and everybody plays together fine. Her main goal though is visiting the humans. Sheāll run to the far side of the park to jump up on a bench to visit a new human. Not one person has tried to resist her charms.
Fast forward to last Thursday. Instead of going on our usual walk around the neighborhood or in the park, we went to the dog park. Daisy is so excited to be there. I unhook her from her leash as soon as weāre inside. She runs around a bit then heads straight towards a group of 4-5 people and maybe 3 dogs. The humans are all raving about her as Iām walking towards them. When Daisy sees the dogs she cowers. One of the dogs (yes a pitbull) comes towards her she rolls over on her back. The dog then stands right over her and she gets scared. She starts flailing her legs (sheās a turtle on her back) and apparently the dog interprets that at aggression. I imagine him thinking āoooh she wants to fightāwell I am going to winā. The pitbull grabs her by the neck and Daisy starts screaming. This is a sound I never want to hear again. She is trying to get away and the pitbull is on her and wonāt let go. The owner is trying to get him off of her but heās not letting go. I then jump in and hold Daisy still so she wonāt struggle and further aggravate him and make it worse. The owner is trying to pry his mouth off of her. I am just about to reach my hand in his mouth too when miraculously he lets go. It is all a blur and I am only concerned with Daisy. She jumps up on me & throws up. She has blood all over her neck & back. Iām checking her to see how bad it is & I canāt find any ripped flesh through her fur. I hear the owner behind me saying āsomethingās wrong with his mouthā. I look back and see his mouth full of blood. He is trying to get away from her and back to Daisy. I scoop Daisy up (haha like a mom lifting a car off her kid) and run for the exit. I can hear the owner apologizing to me as weāre running away. Once outside I put her down and examine her again before heading to the vet. Weāre both covered in blood but at least itās not getting worse. I put her in the car and call the vet on the way there.
By the time we get there I realize that sheās not really bleeding. It must have been the pitbullās blood all over her. He must have bitten his tongue (yay he deserves that and more!). The vet takes her in immediately. They know her and love her there. Turns out she was very lucky. You can see the 4 canine teeth marks but only 1 really did any damage. She has 1 puncture wound Ā¾ inches deep (exactly the length of his tooth I suspect). No ripped flesh. They shave the area and clean everything up. They bring her out to me and she jumps into my arms for comfort. Iām not sure who was comforting who at that point. We go home with antibiotics and pain medication.
After we are home and the adrenaline subsides, I start to think about what could have happened and how much worse it could have been. Both to her and me. Itās all such a blur and I know nobody wants to jump in to a dog fight but all those people around and nobody helped us? Two women trying to break it up? What about those men? Give that dog a big kick.
It did cross my mind for an instant to get the ownerās information so I could force her to pay vet bill, but all I was concerned about was getting Daisy away from there and getting her to the vet. Money didnāt matter at that point. It didnāt occur to me until after that I should have gotten information so I could report that pitbull in case it has attacked before (or when it attacks again).
I donāt really blame the dog for what happened, although I believe the breed instincts played a part in it, I blame the owner. She should have known her dog was aggressive towards other dogs. An aggressive dog should never be brought to an off leash dog park. I know I am stereotyping but, unfortunately it seems lots of pit bull owners are not as diligent at training that instinct out of their dogs. Many seem to think it is ācoolā to have a tough dog. Many are young thugs who donāt care about the consequences of their dogās actions. I knowā¦ that is a generalization and not true of all pitbull owners, but it seems quite common in Tracy.
We are home recovering. Physically Daisy is doing much better. I hope the emotional scars arenāt too deep for her. My guilt of what happened and fear for next time are going to be hard to get past. Obviously we wonāt be going back to the dog park. Iām hoping we donāt have to give up our bulldog events since we have made so many new friends. Iām confident that if something like that happened at a bulldog event I would not have been left alone to break it up.
She is such a friendly dog with people and animals. I swear she thinks every living thing is put on this earth to love her. I have had dogs all my life but honestly never one like Daisy. Maybe itās partly because Iām grown up (haha not going to say Iām old!) and have the time to devote to her, or just that her personality is so endearing, but she is the best dog ever.
I take her all over and even got rid of my Camaro so I could get a car that would be easier to take her along. We go to Petmart at least once a week & Bulldog meetups (at dog park or beach) at least monthly so she can socialize with people and dogs. Itās odd to watch the bulldogs at the meetups because they all hang out together. Other dogs come & go into the group but the bulldogs all seem to prefer each other. Because she enjoys the meetups so much I decided to take her to our own local dog park.
Weāve been several times and she loves it. She runs much more than she should, gets exhausted, drinks way too much water, runs some more, pukes up the water, runs some more, visits all the humans and some of the dogs. She is always very submissive to the dogs (as a result of a dog that scared her in Petsmart when she was a puppy). Regardless of size of dog, she crouches when she gets near them and then rolls over if they get close. Once the other dog is satisfied sheās not a threat she gets up and everybody plays together fine. Her main goal though is visiting the humans. Sheāll run to the far side of the park to jump up on a bench to visit a new human. Not one person has tried to resist her charms.
Fast forward to last Thursday. Instead of going on our usual walk around the neighborhood or in the park, we went to the dog park. Daisy is so excited to be there. I unhook her from her leash as soon as weāre inside. She runs around a bit then heads straight towards a group of 4-5 people and maybe 3 dogs. The humans are all raving about her as Iām walking towards them. When Daisy sees the dogs she cowers. One of the dogs (yes a pitbull) comes towards her she rolls over on her back. The dog then stands right over her and she gets scared. She starts flailing her legs (sheās a turtle on her back) and apparently the dog interprets that at aggression. I imagine him thinking āoooh she wants to fightāwell I am going to winā. The pitbull grabs her by the neck and Daisy starts screaming. This is a sound I never want to hear again. She is trying to get away and the pitbull is on her and wonāt let go. The owner is trying to get him off of her but heās not letting go. I then jump in and hold Daisy still so she wonāt struggle and further aggravate him and make it worse. The owner is trying to pry his mouth off of her. I am just about to reach my hand in his mouth too when miraculously he lets go. It is all a blur and I am only concerned with Daisy. She jumps up on me & throws up. She has blood all over her neck & back. Iām checking her to see how bad it is & I canāt find any ripped flesh through her fur. I hear the owner behind me saying āsomethingās wrong with his mouthā. I look back and see his mouth full of blood. He is trying to get away from her and back to Daisy. I scoop Daisy up (haha like a mom lifting a car off her kid) and run for the exit. I can hear the owner apologizing to me as weāre running away. Once outside I put her down and examine her again before heading to the vet. Weāre both covered in blood but at least itās not getting worse. I put her in the car and call the vet on the way there.
By the time we get there I realize that sheās not really bleeding. It must have been the pitbullās blood all over her. He must have bitten his tongue (yay he deserves that and more!). The vet takes her in immediately. They know her and love her there. Turns out she was very lucky. You can see the 4 canine teeth marks but only 1 really did any damage. She has 1 puncture wound Ā¾ inches deep (exactly the length of his tooth I suspect). No ripped flesh. They shave the area and clean everything up. They bring her out to me and she jumps into my arms for comfort. Iām not sure who was comforting who at that point. We go home with antibiotics and pain medication.
After we are home and the adrenaline subsides, I start to think about what could have happened and how much worse it could have been. Both to her and me. Itās all such a blur and I know nobody wants to jump in to a dog fight but all those people around and nobody helped us? Two women trying to break it up? What about those men? Give that dog a big kick.
It did cross my mind for an instant to get the ownerās information so I could force her to pay vet bill, but all I was concerned about was getting Daisy away from there and getting her to the vet. Money didnāt matter at that point. It didnāt occur to me until after that I should have gotten information so I could report that pitbull in case it has attacked before (or when it attacks again).
I donāt really blame the dog for what happened, although I believe the breed instincts played a part in it, I blame the owner. She should have known her dog was aggressive towards other dogs. An aggressive dog should never be brought to an off leash dog park. I know I am stereotyping but, unfortunately it seems lots of pit bull owners are not as diligent at training that instinct out of their dogs. Many seem to think it is ācoolā to have a tough dog. Many are young thugs who donāt care about the consequences of their dogās actions. I knowā¦ that is a generalization and not true of all pitbull owners, but it seems quite common in Tracy.
We are home recovering. Physically Daisy is doing much better. I hope the emotional scars arenāt too deep for her. My guilt of what happened and fear for next time are going to be hard to get past. Obviously we wonāt be going back to the dog park. Iām hoping we donāt have to give up our bulldog events since we have made so many new friends. Iām confident that if something like that happened at a bulldog event I would not have been left alone to break it up.
to you and Daisy from me and Blue.
