This is some serious s h i t. A couple of mornings ago I awoke to the sound of our dog, 'Buddha' going ballistic. I came tearing down the stairs, half asleep recovering from a night shift, my wife not quite hysterical telling me that 'he's down there, I think there's three of them'
From the moment I woke up I heard barking, yelps, howling and while I was standing outside with Jen I could hear Buddha above it all barking for all he was worth.
I know it wasn't the neighbours' dogs because they started their own symphony in response to what was going on at our place. Besides, they have met before and don't take to each other's throats.
Eventually Buddha returned and we discovered that he was bleeding(not profusely) and thought it was due to running through the Bougainvillea or another thorny bush that abounds here but on closer inspection found quite a few gashes in his hind quarters and inner thigh area.
Off to the vet. 'Wild dogs for sure and these wounds were caused by quite large canine teeth, in fact, the largest I've seen. You're lucky they didn't kill him'. Inspiring words. But we know that they didn't kill him because he chased them off regardless of his injuries. He is our little hero.
We brought him home full of stitches and wondered about things like 'What if Buddha was inside and the kids were out there?' and 'How come we've never come across this before and we've never heard of the problem from others or read about it in the local etc?'
We emailed the local council about what channels to go through in regards to the situation and haven't heard back.
Overnight he chewed his stitches out. Back to the vet. 'We'll put one of those plastic lampshades on his head so he can't do it again'.
Well, der, why didn't you do that yesterday? That's right, we , in our stressed state were supposed to think of that. But hang on, I thought that is why we paid you professionals hundreds of dollars; so you could tell us what to do. We argued the price for the second visit because we wouldn't have even been there if they had put the collar on the first time. Great little money-spinner, that one.
Now, what to do? 'Shoot'em' I hear you shout. Don't have a gun; don't know anyone that has a gun. Baiting; we've got a dog and no fenced area around the house to keep him contained.
For now we have one sorry lookin' mut that keeps crashing into everything because he can't account for the lampshade around his neck. We need to wash his wounds for the next 2-3 weeks with salt
water to help prevent infection (which he hates).