This morning I was abruptly woken up by CY (my honey) because Coltrane, my sweet 12yr old beagle was just bitten by a dog while on his morning walk. Of course we didn’t notice the bleeding until the walk was over and Coltrane was very stoic and showed no signs of discomfort (but I realize that doesn’t mean anything, since dogs usually hide their pain until it is unbearable).
Some dog owners, in my opinion, should be more cautious about letting their dogs interact with other dogs on the street. Even though Coltrane is highly socialized with other dogs, and he is the most gentle creature to humans that you will ever encounter, he is old and can be a bit fussy about which dog comes up to him and I’m cautious about him meeting other dogs. But sometimes other dog owners are not so aware about their animals and just come up to you without any real consideration and just say, “they’re fine with most dogs it should be ok…” as they let their dog come forward without you getting a chance to object. Also, you would think that the owner would know their dog a bit better (later I found out that the walker was not even the dog owner!)
Anyways, to make a long story short, Coltrane’s face had to be shaved and the dog gave him two perfectly punctured (all the way through) wounds in his jowls and the vet put some surgical tape through his face so that the fluid would drain (nice right?!?) and now he’s got a cone on his head (which is so sad), he’s on antibiotics and he is a bit depressed by the whole thing and I’m just pissed off!
I’m a true dog and animal lover and very understanding about animal behaviour and accidents do happen. BUT! I believe that anyone who takes on the responsibility of having a pet should also take responsibility for managing the animal’s behaviour so not to cause accidents like this to happen. If your dog is a bit excited when greeting other dogs, take into consideration that it’s not just because their happy to see another dog but that they might want to dominate or claim turf.
I hope that this whole situation gets resolved in a way that leaves everyone cool cause right now, I’m dark!