The Calm after Battle.

It has been a harrowing few weeks for my family, hence the silence.  Two weeks ago I had a minor surgery that had me laid up for a few days.  Then last week my husband's dog attacked my dog.  Had I not been there, I doubt my dog would have survived the attack.  I am now fully recovered, but I cannot say the same for my dog. My dog has been with me for about 6 years now.  I adopted him from the animal shelter when he was a starved little puppy.  When I got him home I nursed him back to health, and he has been a wonderful loving dog ever since.  He is even highly tolerant of my children dressing him up and loving him to death.

My husband's dog came to us about a year and a half ago.  Someone my husband was working with picked him up off the interstate, and my husband, hearing the dog's story and knowing that the animal shelter was euthanizing every pit bull that crossed their door, took the dog home.  He initially intended to find the dog a new home, but upon taking him to the vet and finding he had heart worms, we decided to keep the dog during his treatment.  Well during that time we became attached to the dog, and decided to keep him.

He was a very loving dog, that was exceptionally gentle with my kids.  He was also a fully intact male, something we don't allow in our house.  After the heart worms were gone we took him to be neutered.  The surgery went well, but soon after the dog began developing a skin rash.

We have since taken the dog to several vets, and even a canine dermatologist.  None have been able to tell us what is wrong with the dog or give him more than temporary relief.  Still, despite the skin condition, he had been a wonderful dog till about 2 months ago.  That is when the first attacked occurred.

The first attacked was unprovoked and quickly stopped, but my dog came out of it with several puncture wounds, and a torn ear.  It also left me with the lasting impression that the dog was unstable, and potentially dangerous.  I believed that his skin condition had finally made him so miserable that even the slightest provocation could set him off.

Fast forward to last week.  My kids, my MiL, and I were playing in the yard with the kids, when my husband's dog again attacked my dog unprovoked.  My husband, who is a large man, had been able to stop the last fight with little difficultly, but he was not around this time.  I beat the dog with a metal pole that was in my garden.  I beat him until my hands were bloody, but still he would not stop attacking.  He had my dog's entire neck in his jaws, and I could hear my dog gasping for air.  Finally, I jammed the pole in the dog's mouth and wrenched it open.  Fortunately my MiL was there to help me pull the dog off, as he was not finished attacking. 

The outcome was the best that could have possibly occurred.  My husband's dog bit my own on the collars, and my dog ended up with only minor puncture wounds on his neck.  One leg had wounds numbering in the teens, but with care and antibiotics it is doing well now.  

My husband's dog is no longer allowed around my dog or my children, and we are at the moment trying to decide what should be done with him.  We have talked to a dog trainer in town that has little hope for him, and are in contact with a dog rehabilitation center, but his outlook looks bleak.