Dog Bite Follow-up

It's easier to respond here than in comments, I think. Animal Control came and took the report, went and talked to the neighbors, and the dog is under house arrest. I talked to my neighbor last night and told her nicely but firmly that if I EVER see her dog out loose again, I don't care how innocently it is behaving, I will call animal control. I alerted the neighbors with kids, they are prepared to call immediately as well, and the kids have been warned to stay away from her and tell their parents right away if she's ever loose again. I really think my neighbor will make an effort to deal with this the right way, this isn't one of those redneck "Got me a mean ole dawg!" situations.

This lady adopted a fluffy, sweet-faced adult shelter dog last year, and happened to get a dog with issues. It happens. She's not badly behaved in general, walks nicely on a leash, loves her family, etc., but she's extremely territorial and defensive, and suspicious of people she doesn't know well, and that makes her dangerous when not supervised. When on the leash with her mommy she's a perfectly nice dog. Her owner takes her everywhere, I see them leaving in the car, the dog sits in the middle of the front seat, happy as anything to be out with Mommy. This dog goes to the dog park regularly, and plays with other dogs and gets along just fine. When she's by herself, she's different, nervous, defensive, and therefore dangerous. The bite is superficial - picture taking a small circle off the back of your leg with a vegetable peeler, her teeth grazed me (and somehow didn't even tear my slacks!) - it's not a real puncture wound like a normal dog bite. She grabbed my leg as I was running away from her and didn't get a good grip. I actually didn't even know she broke the skin until I came into the house and looked, and I cleaned it immediately like the semi-pro wound care specialist I was forced to become (don't ask the details of that). I thought of a tetanus booster shot, but shoot, I cut myself worse than this at least once a month, often on things much dirtier than that dog's mouth. It's shallow and I cleaned it immediately, I'm not overly concerned.

My main thoughts were 1) if she'd grabbed Murphy she could have killed him before I could stop her; and 2) what if it wasn't the back of my leg, but a small child's face? I pointedly and somewhat brutally told my neighbor this last night - I'm not going to sue you, but next time this might be something really serious so there better not BE a next time.

I talked to my friend up the street tonight - the mother of Murphy's two favorite little girls - and she told me that this dog growled at her one evening. She and the girls were coming home, the dog on her driveway, and when she spoke to it "What are you doing here?" the dog growled. She herded the girls to the house and the dog started to follow, she yelled at it sternly and it backed off.

We are all over this dog, but there's not much more we can do about the situation. Her owner was in tears last night, apologizing like crazy - I don't want to make her give up the dog, at least not at this point, but she's got to be extremely vigilant about her. I think she will be. If she isn't, we'll follow through.

I'm so sad that Jerry Orbach died. I loved him.

So the Boss, who really is the sweetest thing ever and who takes hints well, especially when they're delivered like "Here's where I want to sign up for yoga classes!" got me yoga classes for Christmas, at the very place I wanted to take yoga classes. Imagine that. I really could use a better paying job, preferably one with walls and an assistant, but the benefits at the current one are not something one can casually toss aside. So I guess I'm stuck there.

New Year's Resolutions in the works:

Take better care of myself - which mostly means get back into working out regularly. The yoga classes are step one in that. I used to lift weights and loved it, but without something to balance it and really work on flexibility it doesn't give me the results I want. I want to do both.

Get out of the house at least one, maybe two nights a week on a regular basis, rather than intermittently for social or work things, so Murphy can get used to the concept and quit having panic attacks if I'm out after dark. (He spent his formative years with Daddy in the hospital and Mommy coming and going at odd hours and of course THAT ended very badly, now he has major separation anxiety if I don't come directly home from work and STAY home.) I need to ease the DOG into my having a social life again.

Knit 24 things from the stash from hell before buying ANY new yarn.

Become a better blog commenter - I read things and think, "Oh, how cool/exciting/beautiful/sad/happy/good for you!" and click on without commenting. We like feedback. I will give more feedback. I promise.

That's all I have nailed down for now. I'm sure there will be more to follow.