| My story
" Oh, but he was only playing, sugaaaa." That is the first thing I heard out of mouth of the owner of the dog that bit me and changed my life.... I have given great thought to sharing this with everyone, as I am sure that I will get "nasty notes" about it, but I also thought it was worth sharing....
In late August 1994, I had just gotten my first Rottie pup, Rotten... Our neighbor had 2 female Cockers that used to come visit, because they had no where else to go, and no where else to get food and water. The winter before, I brought these little girls into my home to defrost their feet... they had ice inbetween their toes, and their fur was matted with ice and snow, and they had obviously not eaten regularly. Needless to say, they went into heat, and came to my house. A very large mongrel dog followed them, but not realizing that the "girls" were in heat, I went out to protect them. The mongrel dog bit me, but luckily I had on sheepskinned lined mittens, and the bite did not penetrate my skin. I called the Animal Control, and they came and got all three dogs. Later, I saw that my neighbor had a Border Collie in her yard. Just like the Cockers, he was not fed or watered, and he came to my house. I played with him, fed, watered, and brushed him out. Then one night, I took Rotten for a walk, and he was only about 8 weeks old. The BC (Chance was his name), came into my backyard and grabbed Rotten my the HEAD!! I immediately picked Rotten up, over my head, and Chance lunged at me, grabbed my arm in his mouth and tried to "get" both Rotten and me. I kicked out at Chance, and he bit again.... After I yelled at Chance and convinced him to "give it up", I got back to my house with Rotten in my arms. I confined Chance, and called the sheriff, and they came, took pictures, examined me, and Rotten, and took Chance with them. ONE day later, Chance was back at home.... 3 DAYS later, I had a "zit" on my shoulder.... within DAYS, I was completely covered with boils, oozing infection, and I was quarantined by my doctor, because he didn't know what was wrong with me. Chance was also quarantined because he had not been kept current on his shots. After going to a specialist in communicable disease, it was discovered that I had a staph infection from the dog bite. He lived in a horse barn- roping arena, and had been eating horse poop to survive, so he had lots of bacteria, etc, in his mouth when he bit me. Because of this dog bite, I am scarred for life. No, not on my arm, or someplace I can cover up, but my face. My face looks like a WAR ZONE!!! About 18 months later, Rotten developed a very high fever and his head became misshapen with infection.... It turned out to be a nasty bug called "actinomices" bacteria. Rotten was healed, but it took it's toll. He is deaf, and the fever that he had has made him "slow". He has trouble coordinating his desires to what he body does...
Did the neighbor pay??? Yes... We sued her, and I was granted a settlement for the dog bite.... But Chance also paid..... and that is what this story is all about... Was Chance in the wrong?? NO! He came to my house to be fed and watered, because he knew that I wouldn't abuse him and he TRUSTED ME!!! He knew that he would not be fed and watered at home, so he came to me.... I have felt an overwhelming sadness for what happened with Chance, because it was not his fault... BAD OWNERS... BAD DOGS.... but the pain of knowing that Chance was put down because he DIDN'T know better will be with me for life..... as will the scars all over my body, because of a BAD OWNER!!!
Thanks much for letting me have my say-
Val
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