Monday, January 30, 2012

Dog Park Danger

At the risk of turning into Naperville Critters Now, I'd like to share a quick one.

Our St. Louis daughter called to say she was on her way to the dog park with Oscar, their 1-year-old rescue. A madly energetic, sweet pup, Osky loves a good game of chase with his pals in the park near their home.

After 20 minutes of runningrunningrunningrunning with the joy that young dogs exhibit so well, a Pit Bull entered the scene.

Anna noticed this dog's barking/teeth baring/scary behavior toward the other dogs and asked her fiance, Greg, to stand by Oscar and clip his leash on. He did. Within seconds, the Pit bounded over and tried to take Oscar out, only not in the "Wheee This is Funnn!" sense of the word.

Greg has a bite mark to show for it (though he says it's just a scratch. Tough one, that Greg.)

Our daughter hurled a stream of invective toward the Pit's owners, who promptly put a muzzle on their dog.

If you own a muzzle for your dog and carry it in on your person, don't bring your to the dog park. It's irresponsible. What's more, it will end badly. (Thank heavens today wasn't that day.)

Oscar and his furious owners left to play ball in a tennis court far, far away.

The Pit's owners never said a word.

So this was the message exchange on my iPhone last night:


"Trauma victim"
(wrapped in a blanket because sometimes, fur is just not enough.)

"Worst patient ever"
 (Quote from St. Louis daughter regarding
fiance and injured digit. However, he managed to operate
 the remote with his other hand.)

"In recovery."
 (Long story for another time. But doesn't
Tip's coat look great?)
Distraught Mama.
(Calling attorneys.
Consoling Oscar.
In need of several cocktails.
Still furious.)

8 comments:

Carol said...

Poor Oscar. Anyone that carries a muzzle for their dog knows their dog is a danger to others. I would like to know when the irresponsible owners planned on using that muzzle. We're they going to wait until after something happened? I don't understand why that dog didn't come in to that park wearing that muzzle.
I am so glad that Greg and Oscar came out of the incident relatively unscathed, but I share Anna's outrage that people can be so reckless with a dangerous animal.
PS: "Distraught Mama's" picture is adorable.

Sharon said...

Isn't Greg a policeman? Can't he give them a ticket or something?

Johanna said...

Almost all of the dog bite injuries (from aggresive dogs)I've seen in the ED have come from Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. One of these was a child fatality. I am a big fan of restricting and controlling these breeds of dogs.

Anna JP said...

Thanks for the post, Mom! Oscar is doing much better this week. So far, the only drama we've had is that Oscar ate a pen this morning. Or really, crunched it up into a million pieces and spit it out on the floor. Sigh. I've given him a free pass....we're blaming PTSD. Obedience school starts tomorrow night at 6 pm....so keep us in your thoughts, loyal readers! Hopefully everyone will play nice and we won't get kicked out for bad behavior :-)

Kathy and Freddy said...

Distraught Mama is a great photo!
What a terrible thing to happen. Did the mean dog get reported to the dog park authorities?

Johanna said...

Another Pit Bull injury at work last night. Need I say anything more?

laurie said...

glad his remote hand still works. but honestly! we quit going to dog parks because there were too many people who didn't know how to control their dogs.

i know a woman whose small dog was actually killed at a dog park by an aggressive dog. terrible.

dog park said...

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