32 Weeks

 32 Weeks
76 lbs

From Saturday, a mere ten days after Kal was attacked:

Once again, having almost completed our daily walk, Kal and I ventured down what is usually a much quieter street (than our old go-to street), one I have taken the dogs down at least twice a week for the past year... I'd made note of the barking dog at one corner, and the garage that sometimes sits open with a person and their leashed pit bull observing the morning activities. They haven't been out of late, all garage doors on the street remaining closed.

The opposite end of the street is home to a pair of Australian shepherds whose owners tend to let them out to wander in the front yard (and in the road- a very busy street corner) when they're doing yard work. We usually see them when we are driving by (having to avoid running them over). They aren't typically outside- not even in their back yards, though there have been occasions when they are, and have barked at us, as dogs are wont to do.

We were almost past the house when I heard someone calling to a dog. I could tell they were under the car port, on the far side, with three cars in between us and them.

I wasn't worried about it. The person sounded like they had control of their dog.

Kal, however, startled, and took off running, pulling me at a jerky pace across their driveway... and their walkway... and into the street,

where he bolted, screaming,

because the dang dog was calmly approaching from behind, wanting to sniff and make friends.

Unfortunately, being a shaggy, mostly black dog of the same size as the one who caused so much damage to Kal's body (and, obviously, psyche) last week...

it just wasn't good.

I ended up tripping and falling down.

Kal continued to run- in circles- the other dog following along on his tail. At least Kal and I managed to keep some distance between them, while the silly lady stood in the road calling to "Foster", who wasn't listening.

She eventually got him under control and sent him away, and after at least 3 complete circles, with my left knee being the pivot point, Kal stopped.

I'd just begun to think I didn't know how much skin I had left on my knee, and whether I could take anymore of the spinning.

My left ankle, entire lower left leg, knee, and elbow are completely scraped up.

So is my right pinky finger, missing several layers of skin just above the knuckle. I have no idea how that one happened.

The knee and finger are the worst. Down to the meat, if that makes any sense.

I continued to sit there, in the middle of the street, no desire to get up, or walk home, or anything.

The lady fussed over me, apologized, offered a band-aid (like that was going to fix anything), went on about how her dogs "were friendly" and how Foster "is such a chicken, he won't even pee in the back yard at night in the dark, so we have to let him out front (which explains why there is always dog poop on their street corner, and confirms my suspicions that it was their own dogs).

I explained Kal's recent experience, and observed that he obviously did have lingering issues, of which we suspected but had not yet been made aware.

She petted Kal, started talking about her other dog, Maggie, at which point I turned and saw both dogs were approaching.

I called her attention to that, saying "Here they come, again!"

She turned, and started yelling at them. Her husband came out, and brought them in, then began to approach while she explained what had happened.

Kal growled at him.

The guy didn't even leave the car port.

The woman petted Kal again, asked if my leg was broken (I still hadn't felt like getting up, was just sitting, staring at the damage, dismayed), and said "Well, I have to get ready for work..."

Sunday, my husband and I walked Kal together. The dogs were in their fenced yard when we passed by.

Kal growled at them, anyway.

It's a sign of discomfort, the growling but... it's only going to get worse. No matter what I know, or what I do, I just don't see me fixing this.

Here we go, again, with a dog we really can't take anywhere, or allow to be around anyone.

It doesn't matter that he still wants to play with the dogs on the other side of our own fence (one of them followed her kids right out the front door last week, as they were walking to school and Kal and I were almost home. I had to stop, and wait for them to put her back inside, all the while hoping she wouldn't see us. She's probably nice, but she's already protective of her kids when they're playing in the backyard. I wasn't taking any chances with her being loose- and this was  BEFORE the first time we got attacked.

I don't even want to walk any of the dogs, anymore. Now ever barking dog behind a fence is just another one who might get out. The two quietest streets are no longer "safe", which is bad, since both of those roads go to the park and have a lot of foot traffic- both canine AND human.

I have my work cut out for me, it seems.

He goes to the vet for a re-check today.

I'm dreading it.

For no reason other than I simply don't want to go.

I've never not wanted to go to the vet before. I've always looked forward to it.

Technically, I could cancel, and save some money, since it's just about his ears, which are fine...

We've made a few changes this week, including my husband walking Kal after work, while I spend 30 minutes each morning working with Kal in the back yard. We play ball, Frisbee and work on tricks and skills. It seems to be working- mostly I struggle with allowing my husband do things his way, because they conflict with the way I want things done.

I had to walk Kal this morning, because it had rained just enough for the yard to be too wet to play, and I had work later and really needed him to burn off some energy before going back in his crate.

He pulled really badly, despite the addition of a travel harness, intended so I would have better control of his body, rather than just his neck. Probably it was the intermittent rain that had him pulling. He's been walking well, otherwise. We managed 20 minutes before turning back. So far, today has been ok, just disorganized, which is stressful for me. I still need to walk the girls, but the usual "walk as soon as I get home" routine doesn't work, anymore, when you can't walk everyone at once and one of them is a puppy who has been crated for two hours. I had to opt for backyard play. I'll try to walk the girls after I get back from the vet.

He still doesn't sleep through the night. Last night, he was up at 12:30, then threw up at 3am, then wanted to go out at 3:30am... I checked on him again at 5, since his "regular" going out times of late are 1:30am and 5:30am...

I don't really sleep , anymore. He actually slept straight through til 4:30 once last week, and 5:30 once this week.

The girls still pretty much hate him. This house is too small to be raising an active, large breed puppy. The only reason living here worked at all was because, once upon a time, we had three adult dogs who were trained, well-behaved, and mostly slept all of the time.

It feels like this is never going to end.

I've ordered a slew of new Bach flower remedies, and I'll be implementing a Comfort Zone plug-in. At least the work I'm doing with him in the yard is going well.