My mom was attacked by a border collie that had jumped its fence. Dog was one of those the owners had tired of and just left in the yard by itself all the time; neighborhood kids would tease it. So it hated everyone.
I had to beat and jab it back with a prop pole from our clothes line until my dad came out with a shovel. Talk about a hard dog to aim for, the thing writhed like a snake and I couldn’t lay a solid strike on him.
Dad got a couple licks in to his shoulder and head and the dog fled; Dad then went and pounded on the owner’ door and told her if she didn’t get rid of the dog he would kill it right in front of her. She got rid of the dog.
There was another dog in the neighborhood a lab mix that used to go after kids on bikes and try to pull them off; he got out one time while everyone was horsing around with a tennis ball cannon and someone got the bright idea of aiming for the dog after he started it again. The tennis ball, to everyone’s surprise, actually hit the target in the ribs about where his heart would have been and I guess the concussion was enough to stop the dog’s heart because he dropped and rolled to a stop, dead. All the kids cheered but scattered because they were afraid the owner would find out. We didn’t care if the owner found out and didn’t know who he was anyway... but we had a lot more respect for a Polack cannon after that and were much more careful with them.
Some guy’s lab took after my pet ground hog which he saw from 3 or 4 doors away; when he charged, I scooped up the woodchuck and stuck it in our tree to keep it out of reach and grabbed my handy shovel to see if the dog was going to stop or not... it didn’t and shovel met dog forehead. It kind of wobbled a bit in surprise and by then the neighbor was able to call it back.
I thought I was really going to get it one day when playing with some kittens in my front yard- a guy came up the road on a bike with his big German Shepherd trotting along beside him and the Shepherd saw the kittens. I saw the shepherd coming in like a dive bomber when the owner’s cry for it to stop alerted me, but could tell it wasn’t focused on me at all it just wanted to kill the kittens so I tried to get between them, about that time my momma cat who used to be a semi-feral barn cat comes flying out from wherever she’d been lounging around and you could just about hear her claws click into place as she headed to intercept the shepherd at the curb; he saw her and started putting on the brakes but too late, she clawed him across the nose and muzzle and he yelped and turned to run away just as the owner arrived to see his courageous shepherd tuck tail and run with the momma cat in hot pursuit.
I was hoping the cat would come back but she chased the dog down the street and he yowled all the way like he was getting mauled by a mountain lion until his voice faded in the distance, and then after awhile as they rounded the street and returned up another one the yelping got louder and here comes the dog from the other direction, a tired momma cat way behind. The embarrassed owner took off apologetically to catch his dog as it sailed by while I busted a gut laughing and thanked God that my fears didn’t come true.
I’m just glad I grew up in time before pit bulls became popular or things would have been a lot different.
I love your stories!
Great stories!
A pet woodchuck? I had a beagle mutt that loved to kill woodchucks. She was smart enough that when she saw one, she’d dash in on a beeline not to the chuck but to its burrow. She’d intercept the chuck who was running for his burrow and send him sprawling. Then she wind back for the kill.
Sorry! Didn’t mean to tell you stories about woodchucks being killed. But these were wild ones in pastures, and the farmers always said she did good work because cows would break their legs stepping in a burrow hole. I never saw that happening, but they all where sure it did.
Wow, I cannot believe that about the tennis ball cannon!
I shall make sure not to ever buy one of those.
And good job, Mama Cat. Don’t wanna mess with an angry cat. They can fight!
How on earth did you acquire a pet whistle-pig? (marmot, groundhog, etc.) Do tell!