DOG FIGHT

Yesterday it was only overcast and not raining. The cloud cover kept the temperature a little lower and for middle of summer in Florida, it was pleasant outside. Lets go to the dog park, Shadow. I'm not sure if he recognizes the word "GO" or "DOG PARK" but he began his "happy dance". I gathered up the necessary "stuff" and off we went. It is a seven minute ride and as we get closer, he is getting excited; turning all which ways inside his travel crate.

When we arrived, the "Big Dog" area was deserted. Shadow took off running and covered the entire perimeter (two hundred yards square) in fifteen minutes. He hadn't been to the park for a while so I just let him run. It was great to watch him gallop around like a miniature horse. I could hear the beat of his paws on the hard packed sand and grass. He was loving it.

His friend Digby, a beautiful golden retriever came to the park and the two of them went to town, playing hard at once. The girl bringing Digby was a nice oriental lady who I'd seen a few times but I asked her her name as I don't think I'd ever known it. Her name is Kahm pronounced (Come).

A few minutes more and five or six more dogs arrived with their owners. There was a pair of Huskies who arrived and they were litter mates. The larger male seemed very protective of the smaller female. Shadow tussled with both of them off and on and other dogs as well. I sat on the picnic table talking to the owner of the huskies and we commented that it was nice to socialize our dogs to new friends.

All of a sudden, the growling no longer sounded playful. Where in the past, Shadow would show signs of submission and desist, that was not the case, today. The husky was biting and snarling and attempting to inflict damage and I did see a little blood. I couldn't see whose blood it was. Steve reached in to grab his dogs collar but he missed and got Shadow's instead. Shadow merely flicked his head and laid Steve's hand open. We got the dogs separated and the blood washed off, but Steve was going to need stitches. He said it was his fault reaching into a snarl, but I still felt bad. We took him over to the water fountain and cleaned the blood off of the combatants. Shadow had a tiny (half inch) cut on his right ear, but blood on his muzzle. I washed it off his mouth and saw no more cuts. The larger husky calmed down and there were only a few nips on him. All in all, we don't think they were engaged in mortal combat because ten minutes later they were friends again.

The possible explanation was that the bigger dog felt Shadow was threatening his smaller, female sister, I'll ask Shadow when he becomes more expressive.