Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Sweet Little Susie







About five or six years ago, while walking my dog Molly, we came upon a cute little Maltese dog being walked by its owner. Little did I suspect that for Molly it didn't look cute, but looked more like a snack, and in one quick motion had the little thing in her mouth. Up until that point I would have never considered that Molly had one mean bone in her body, or thought in her head. Seven hundred and fifty dollars in emergency vet bills later, You'd figure I had learned my lesson.

Flash forward to yesterday afternoon, and I am at the Abandoned Pet Rescue shelter, walking dogs. Don't get me wrong, most of the dogs there are sweet and good natured, but there are a couple who have issues. First of all there is Sandy, a pit bull, who likes to grab her own leash and walk herself. Sandy is not satisfied just grabbing the end of the leash attached to her, she wants the whole thing, and keeps snapping at the leash like an angry alligator, until she gets all the way up to your hand. Unfortunately Sandy cannot tell the difference between your hand, the leash, and a raw steak.

The second 'bad' dog is Susie, another pit bull. Susie is totally deceptive. She lets me into her cage and meekly stands there while I put the leash on her, then she goes outside with me and walks along the grassy dog walking area, all happy and friendly with a big dog smile on her face. It's all a lie. Yesterday while walking Susie, I was chatting with another guy who was walking a cute little dog named Haga. I swore I was far enough from the other dog, but apparently I wasn't. Susie grabbed Haga by the snout faster than you can say, 'Oh Shit', and all hell broke loose. The high pitched yelps and barks of fear attracted all the other dog walkers, so I tried not to do that anymore. I desperately pried and pulled at Susie's jaw, but her grip was amazing. We finally got her to release the other dog, and when it was all over, Haga just walked away, a little bloodied but none the worse. Susie however wanted more, and I had to take her across the street.

You just never know what is really going through a dogs mind. They can be going along making you believe all is well and then the next thing you know, they are trying to eat your next door neighbor. I'm glad my dog Chandler isn't that way. I hope.

5 comments:

  1. Holy crap, Alan...that would have been another 7/11 sh*t my pants moment. Everyone up here is wanting money because of the economy...I'm sure I would have gotten sued. Our dogs don't mind other dogs...it's our nieces and nephews that we're worried about. The two labs follow them around hoping for dropped cookies etc, and even though we tell them..."don't get up into their faces like that!" they insist on holding them by their ears and kissing them on the mouth. Freaks the dogs WAY out. Some day I'm scared someone's gonna loose a nose, and we won't win "Aunts of the Year" award anymore.

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  2. Hey, Chandlers picture looks like he is "hungry like the wolf"!! We have been very lucky, even though ZOE is one very annoying pup to Lauras 2 senior dogs, they have limited themselves to snarls and growls. Some day they won't be so laid back.......

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  3. Chandlers problem is that he is very oral. He always wants your hand in his mouth. He especially likes to 'taste' Mark. I hope he gets over that.

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  4. Mark, being as svelte as he is, must look like a chew stick to Chandler.

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  5. I hate to say it, but this seems to reinforce the stereotypes about pit bulls.

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