Sunday, November 30, 2008

Swissy Sunday

Over all, the weekend and Thanksgiving were great. We had nice weather and got to be outside for for a lot of play. Sherman and Scarlett still enjoy playing keep away with any sticks that they find in the yard.

Although, Sherman isn't as inclined to play when it comes to bones. Scarlett usually loses hers to Sherman as soon as she walks away from it for any reason. And since he doesn't ever put them down - he just finishes them - and she never gets them back. Although you do have to admire her for trying.

We did a little yard clean up thins weekend because of all the leaves that were in the yard and Scarlett had a great time playing in the piles and making a grab for them as we'd toss them up for her.


We've been taking her places and have been having some minor successes so we decided to head out to the dog park for a little socializing. When we arrived things looked very promising - there weren't many dogs there (about 4-5) and we were familiar with about half of those there.


Just seconds after getting in the gate - a very aggressive dog grabbed Scarlett by the head and neck and started shaking her and we were certain she was going to be badly hurt. This attack was totally unprovoked. It was extremely scary and upsetting.

I have a hard time believing that a dog that aggressive hasn't acted this way before. And if the dog has done something like this - the owner had absolutely no business having the animal at an off-leash park. It took Brad and the dog's owner to get him to release Scarlett from his jaws.

Thankfully, Scarlett suffered only the most minor of physical damage. I think Brad actually bled the most. The owner was very upset and took his dog out of the park immediately. He did check on us after securing his dog. We tried to stay a little while but Scarlett was very nervous about the other dogs so after a short time and a little walking around the park we came home.

So I have no field trip pictures to share this time. I'm trying to get her into a training class - maybe I can get some photos there.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to Scarlett at the park! We take Arnold to the dog runs every weekend but he's so small, we only put him down near other small dogs and we try to keep the big dogs far away. I can imagine how upsetting this was, I hope she's able to shake it off and be OK at the park next time! Good luck! She's absolutely adorable!

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Oh no! I'm glad Scarlett is okay at least. Almost the same thing happened on our first trip with Bailey to a dog park. Unfortunately she needed stitches though because the dog bit her so hard. We were probably just as traumatized, if not more, than she was.

I'm glad the rest of your weekend went well though!! Both doggies are sooooo cute together!

Bezzie said...

She's getting so big!

Ugh. What a horrible experience!! Sounds like the same people with punching kids have mean dogs too!

Stacey said...

How scary!!! Make sure you get her out and socializing again ASAP! Somewhere like Petco or Petsmart where she can meet other dogs in a controlled environment....an incident like that can really scar them for life...I also find it very hard to believe that the other dog has never done that before....

Karen said...

Wow, I am so glad she wasn't hurt worse!

Zonda said...

Oh poor Scarlett and Brad! (and you too!) Glad no one got hurt too badly. I bet the poor girl was a bit scared.

bockstark.knits said...

oh gosh that is so scary! i'm glad that she wasn't hurt too badly. and awww...too cute pics of her in the leaves!

Anonymous said...

Oh no, poor Scarlett and Brad! I'm glad they weren't badly hurt.

Great pictures (as usual), especially the last one :-)