Anyone who believes “there’s no teeth to the law” might have emerged with a different perspective had they witnessed a confrontation Saturday at Camp Luna.
The “teeth” belonged to a neighbor dog that mauled and would have killed our pet whippet, Moosa. Because the owner of the attacking dog acted responsibly, all those concerned reached an amicable agreement.
Here’s what happened:
Saturday my wife and I put a leash on Moosa and went for a walk around the large block in our neighborhood. We sometimes take along our grand-children, 2, 4 and 8. Often we walk several times a day.
We’re usually greeted by a chained tail-wagging dog that appears ready to join us. Saturday, however, the dog was loose. He approached us and did the customary sniffing that dogs do. Often there’s growling and “posturing,” with the dominant dog overpowering and the smaller one submitting by exposing its throat. After the ritual, they become friends.
The neighbor dog never growled or postured before attacking. His powerful jaws almost bisected my 30-pound whippet. We tried separating the dogs, my kicking the German Shepherd, but that didn’t faze him. He flipped our dog over, took a chunk out of Moosa’s underside, creating a bloodbath, and began dragging Moosa into its yard.
Neighbors came up with a shovel, but by that time the attacking dog had left. Another neighbor brought a towel to cover Moosa’s wounds; another drove my wife home to get our car to transport the dog.
Fortunately, Dr. Terry Jantzen of Animal Care Clinic was only minutes away and kept the injured pet through Monday. The vet services ran into the hundreds. Though barely able to eat, Moosa is healing.
Here are some observations:
€Dogs love to chase. When riding my bike and being pursued by a dog, I’ve stopped and ridden toward the dog, which inevitably runs away. Ha! Quite a turnaround.
€Almost always, dogs let out a warning.
€In very little time, dogs begin to recognize and relax around people they see daily.
We got two whippets a dozen years ago from a friend. According to some sources, whippets are the fastest land animals for their size. They look like greyhounds but are only half their size and slower.
We learned a whippet can run about 35 mph. One Sunday I rode my bike to church and reached such speeds going down the Camp Luna Hill and Hot Springs. When I stopped at Mills, I saw two whippets alongside me — I’d not seen them join the chase. They weren’t even warmed up yet.
How does one dog-proof a yard when the dogs are about the thickness of an attache case? We often joked about how one of us could inadvertently trap a whippet between the front door and the screen door. He would fit but couldn’t turn around.
Moosa (Zuñi for “cat”) and his litter-mate, Watsita (Zuñi for “dog”) were bred to hunt hares. Moosa once went after a jackrabbit in the field north of our house. Jackrabbits often “play” with hounds, allowing the dog to think he can catch up, then, as the dog gets near, activates the turbo-boost and leaves the dog w-a-y behind.
Moosa must have anticipated where the rabbit would be after a 300-yard chase. As the rabbit ran across the field, Moosa computed a 45-degree vector and got there in time. I witnessed not an attack of whippet teeth tearing into rabbit fur, but a collision that barely fazed Moosa and left a very dead jackrabbit. Watsita died of old age; Moosa remains a Luna senior citizen.
Saturday’s encounter was a shock because of the the speed, power and deception of the attacking dog. Usually there’s a warning. Usually an adult’s shoe startles the attacker; usually dogs merely nip at their prey rather than trying to crush their spine; usually dogs give a warning. A vicious dog could easily have killed a child and maimed a grownup.
We read about children being attacked by pitbulls whose owners swear their dogs are gentle and loveable. And we read various opinions on how chaining dogs makes them mean. I wonder about the irony of having a dog chained to a post. What is being guarded? Couldn’t a burglar have his way, secure in the knowledge that the being that could stop him is chained?
On a walk once, I jumped into the back of a pickup when a pitbull, tugging his chain and the post that was supposed to restrain him, came toward me. Neighbors Eddie and Evelyn Gallegos said they were held captive by a pitbull that simply would not let them move. They said a police officer finally arrived and drove them home.
I wonder why some people have as many as six chained animals, usually pitbulls. I wonder too about neighborhood safety — for children, adults and other pets — when we realize that the weakest link in the chain is all that is protecting us.
This is just a story of how our pet survived a mauling and how our own perception of neighborhood safety and friendly-seeming dogs has been forever altered.
As for the owner of the dog that attacked Moosa, well, he’s hurting too. He arranged to have his dog euthanized. He accepted full responsibility for owning a dog that slipped out of its collar while the owner was away.