Posted on 11/17/2011 8:53:17 AM PST by Altariel
As I told you last week, we find many friends at the dog park. I am lucky enough to find many in both human and furry form. One of the beautfiul furry ones that I have met is Faith.
Faith is a gorgeous Doberman rescued from an unfortunate situation, and she recently had the scare of a lifetime. I asked Faith's owner, Dorothy, to give me details of that tragic day, and her story was so compelling, I thought it was better told in her words:
"We are so much like our dogs in so many ways, sharing the joys of a playful ball game, cuddling up for naps together, excited about a walk in the woods or loving a treat. Some dogs just don’t experience these relationships because evil-doers have slipped into their lives. Dogs' innate personalities of unconditional love and affection, friendship and loyalty have been hampered, and solitude, starvation, a whip, or shrieking voices have robbed them of these pleasures.
"Faith, a Doberman, came from this gut-wrenching background. She is making strides to belong to the ‘pack’ but work is to be done. The love that she shows my family and friends at Happy Tails Dog Park is tear jerking. If people have similarities to dogs, could we trust our abusers like Faith does?
"One afternoon, while frolicking to the dog park along with her sister, Java, a Lab, Faith suddenly jumped about two feet into the air. With this reaction, I assumed Faith was stung by a bee until I saw her paw sliced and massive amounts of blood pouring out. Thinking quickly, I turned around and ran back to the car as calmly as possible. Faith, by now, was weakening and Java was frightened. I sped off to the Dunedin Animal Hospital, ran into the office, and was followed back to the car by two technicians. They picked Faith up, still bleeding profusely, and carried her into the hospital. Dr. Woodley performed emergency surgery. Faith severed an artery and three tendons and was stitched, cauterized, and put into a cast. Upon knowing Faith was OK and spending the night at the hospital, I made my way back to the site where Faith was ‘critically’ injured. Scanning the area, I found a broken beer bottle with a jagged edge around the circumference of the neck of the bottle. A bottle purposely broken and left in the path waiting for an accident to happen.
"Faith, once again, was a recipient of evil-doers. To fillet a paw because of a litterbug in our parks predicated by an inconsiderate, unaccountable attitude is unacceptable.
Please clean up your act and respect our parks."
Please clean up your glass bottles. This incident proves how much of a hazard hey can be to animals and people. Luckily, Faith pulled through, but not to the tune of some pricey vet bill, I am sure. If you don't have curbside pickup, clear glass (no lids, labels OK) is accepted at:
Other beer bottles should be thrown away.About this column: "Rescue Me" features pet adoption and foster stories and important tips for dog owners.
Other words of advice. Always have a can of pepper spray handy, as well as a spare plastic bag. Pepper spray is good for aggressive stray dogs and may also be good against wild animals in areas prone to rabies. And rarely, for the un-neutered, un-socialized, adult male dog brought to the dog park.
Coyotes are extremely dangerous to dogs. Even a strong pit bull (a “nanny dog”) can be badly savaged by one. Dogs think about fighting for dominance. Coyotes think about killing for food, territory, or to protect a litter. They think of dogs as food.
You can become everyone’s friend by getting expendable dust pans and cat litter scoops at the dollar store, and leaving them by the scumber waste can.
Cheap fly paper strips are also great. Fill a discarded drinking water bottle with tap water, and secure one end of the strip under the cap, to put on top of the scumber waste can when the flies are out in force.
If the dog park is prone to annoying small mud puddles, a big sack of generic kitty litter can be just the thing for less muddy dogs.
If you allow your dogs (as I do) out in the backyard, be thinking about coyotes that might lurk in the woods beyond and have a handgun or rifle nearby to grab and frighten the critters away if they attack your dogs.
Coyotes are in every county in the U.S., I've read.
Beware the pairs too. A large dog can usually stand one off. But where i walk they often work in twos. Lure the dog into the woods where a second coyote is waiting. Then tag team on the take-down.
This happened to one of mine, a lab-pit bull mix. The first coyote led him off, then halted and turned around as the second one came out from behind a bush.
Fortunately for him, he was an extraordinary animal who had developed his own fighting style somehow. Having seen it before when he was attacked by larger, stray dogs, I called it “dog jitsu”. Those fights were over in a second or two, oddly enough with minimum harm to either dog—but the other dog held in a pin to stop it from fighting further.
Instead of engaging and clenching with the lead coyote, he flipped it through the air several feet and it landed on its back, hard, knocking the wind out of it. My dog took the opportunity to scram. A wise move. He still ended up with a good sized gash on one leg.
The Interior Department put out a warning a couple of years ago. Though normally enemies, a cross-bred wolf and coyote had been sighted in New England. They decided that the mixed intelligence of the two was so dangerous that they should be shot on sight. Someone said it was like “the canine equivalent of a leopard.”
There are some unconfirmed reports of Coy-dogs in the Chicago suburbs. If true those will be some extremely dangerous critters.
Coy-dogs I’m less sure. Crossing with dogs tends to mitigate wolves, and I suspect it also settles down coyotes. Some people insist that coy-dogs are okay.
But wolves have impressive raw intelligence, with some estimates as high as equal to a five year old child or better. Coyotes are known for their tactical smarts, in that they will scheme new survival and hunting strategies.
Even American Indians had the sage advice to “Never trust a coyote.”
Having met some 98% wolf-dogs, I can attest that they are impressively smart creatures.
Very tragic story here of a dog killed by a trap. :-(
http://www.channel3000.com/news/29516420/detail.html
I saw a large coyote, or wolf/coyote hybrid, sauntering through my 12 acre yard just last week. I’m keeping a close eye on my Golden as a result.
Doggie BUMP!
The American Indian trickster-god was a coyote. They knew whereof they spoke.
That is a very sad story. It’s a good lesson-—know where you are, and what you are likely to encounter when you are there.
How sad that the woman lost a dog to learn that lesson.
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