We have a wonderful off-leash dog park about seven miles from our new home. I’ve taken Moose and Lally to the park four times in the ten days we’ve been here! Imagine, if you will, an acre or so of land, securely fenced, with a walking path around the perimeter, plenty of sturdy water bowls, and a few benches for us two-leggers. My friend Julie calls it Doggy Disneyland.
On Saturday, Moose got attacked.
Moose, Lally, and I were walking the loop, as I like to call it — a bark covered path around the park. A wheaten terrier who had left his owner to sniff some of the new dogs came to join us. The terrier walked a few paces with us, inching closer and closer to Moose until they were shoulder to shoulder. It reminded me of how my parents’ dog Becca used to try to herd my dog Miko around, bonking his shoulders with hers so he would go where she wanted.
That was all the warning we had before the terrier turned and lunged for Moose’s throat. I dumped the contents of my water bottle on them, but it didn’t get them to separate. I reached in and grabbed Moose’s collar, thinking he was going to hurt the smaller dog — he had a good 40 or 50 pounds on the wheaten terrier, easily. But it was the terrier who didn’t want to give up. I tried to grab his collar, too — his owner was running towards us, but was coming from at least a quarter of the path away.
Moose somehow managed to twist around and sit on the other dog, which gave the owner a chance to grab his collar and pull him away. We caught our breath, and she immediately apologized for her dog being the aggressor in the conflict. It was their first visit to the park — or any park — and she hadn’t known how her dog Tuffy would react. I pointed out that he wasn’t fixed, and that could be part of the aggression problem. She noticed blood on my pants; in the scuffle, Tuffy had chomped on my leg.
In the end, Moose needed two stitches in his ear and I needed a tetanus booster shot and a lot of calming down and hugs. It could have been a lot worse. In a weird way, I’m glad it was Moose who got attacked and not a smaller, more fragile dog.
Oh, and Lally? When the fight broke out, she took off running in the opposite direction and found some human friends to hide behind. My brave little girl.
Further reading: Is it ever okay to kick a dog?