Y'all, I am all the way fucked up right now.
We were gonna take the dogs to the park and then go for brunch and pup cups.
Shit went sideways REAL fast.
We were at the dog park and it seemed like Cub was having a pretty good time. He often gets his sniffs in and then wants to leave, but today he was actually running around and playing. All of the dogs left and it was just Bear and Cub, then a 6-month-old lab named Ellie came in. They were all getting along well. Bear wasn't as playful as we've seen him before, but he has just spent the last few months sedated and isolated, so we weren't concerned if he needed to get his bearings.
Then a lady came to the gate and asked if it was ok to bring an un-neutered male in. We said that our dogs were fine and the man with the baby lab said ok, so she started to come in. Of course, Cub ran over to greet them and that's when it went down. She was barely in the gate before her dog was attacking Cub. Before I could even get the words "Shaun, she needs help. GO!" out of my mouth, it was too late.
I've seen dog fights before. I don't know that this was the most vicious. But it was UNEXPECTED.
This woman threw herself into the dog fight. By the time I got over to them, she was laying on her dog (her back across his back with one of her arms kind of around behind her grabbing him) and slapping him with the other, yelling variations of "Drop it! Let him go! No!" to which the dog did not respond.
Shaun had Cub around his head/neck, kind of in the veterinary hold, to keep him from fighting/biting her and the dog. He got Shaun's thumb, but barely. But who could blame him? He was desperately trying to get away from this dog that was just tearing into him and not letting go.
It felt like an eternity before we got Cub free. When Cub's skin slipped, the other dog grabbed him again lower down. He's literally got stitches an inch away from his asshole. We actually don't know if the other dog let go or if Cub's skin ripped. It was literally pulled away from his body like a t-shirt could be pulled away on us. Meanwhile, I don't know if Cub ever even bit the other dog. The lady had a scratch on her face and a puncture in her arm. Cub may have done it, or maybe her dog did. I don't know, and frankly do not care.
The whole time this lady is yelling "I'm so sorry! I just found him last week! He's been good with my dogs! I'm trying to find him a home!" and we're just fucking baffled because you are out here admitting that you don't know this dog and that he's stressed and that you brought him to a dog park and ALSO KEPT HIM LEASHED INSIDE so he would feel even more defensive. Like, what the actual fuck?!
As soon as we got them separated we started loading the dogs up. I went back for our things and told her that she needed to have her wound treated. She said she had Neosporin, so I said "Ok." and we went straight to the ER. We didn't exchange information or anything. Getting Cub treated was our priority.
Cub has 3 sites with stitches, one large hole that the vet left open to drain, and several superficial cuts. He has 2 different pain meds and also antibiotics. He has air under his skin due to the way the other dog was pulling him. The vet said it would dissipate, but that if he feels/sounds crackly for a bit not to panic. The vet also said he got his ass kicked, which I think is a fair assessment.
I am struggling because I know we didn't do everything right. We probably shouldn't let him run up to other dogs, but generally dogs at the park are friendly and it's fine. They all crowd up at the gate when you enter/leave and that is normal in my experience. What happened today was absolutely not. Maybe understandable since that dog had to have been stressed (given all of the information the lady was shouting), but definitely not normal. And that woman should have known better, or at the very least exercised more caution with an animal she didn't know well.
I also feel like I know where that lady's heart was (picking up strays sounds pretty familiar), but I've never taken a strange, unvetted dog to a public dog park. I don't know if this could have been a mistake I'd make years ago in her same situation, but I hope not. I want to be mad at her, but at the same time I just can't.
Really all I want to do is cry. Our sweet Cub didn't deserve that. Shaun probably saved his life with that vet hold, preventing him from getting his face/neck torn at like the rest of his body. I just hope Cub doesn't view it as him being held down by Shaun and attacked by that dog, but I don't think he does. Cub also remained friendly at the vet with the other dogs, so I am really hoping this didn't scar him too much emotionally. I guess that remains to be seen.
Bear, thankfully, was laying under a bench and did not move until I went back to retrieve him. At least they both weren't hurt. That's something.
$700 later Cub is patched up, drugged, and resting.
