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20 January 2002
Nancy here. The snow came and went, and we've come and gone lots since then. It seems like we barely get off to work in the morning before it's time to come home and then time for bed...there just aren't enough hours in the day.
Two weeks ago we had some unpleasant excitement. Onyx and Bucky had an altercation in the morning during the first turn out, and a terrible dog fight insued. I was upstairs asleep, and was awakened to the sound of what we call "growlies" outside. No big deal, we have lots of males who "talk" to each other routinely. I then heard Scott yelling at the dogs to stop, then heard his voice change. I can't explain what it was in his voice that made me jump out of bed, but I did and flew down the stairs.
When I got to the door, I saw Onyx and Bucky tearing into each other with Scott right in the middle of them. I ran outside and grabbed Bucky's tail because it was the only thing I could reach. No luck. I then grabbed one of his back legs and yanked him backwards. That gave Scott enough time to get him by the collar and me enough time to get Onyx, who was bleeding profusely.
Onyx had taken the worst of the damage. Although his wounds luckily were all skin tears, they looked horrible. We took him to the vet straightaway (Bucky had only one wound, a skin tear, the size of a dime on one leg), and are continuing to clean his boo-boos and nurse his ego. :) Thankfully our director understood that this was an ACCIDENT and that it will NEVER happen again, and didn't strip us of the ability to foster for our group.
I learned a great deal in the process: Always grab for back legs when attempting to separate dogs that are fighting. Do not try to grab anywhere near their heads: Scott did so and got bitten by both dogs just because his hands were in the way. Don't try to clean up big wounds on your own: you never know what you might wash away that can help the vet. And NEVER NEVER NEVER get complacent with these dogs, especially foster dogs.
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