Research Time
I spent this evening doing some minor research on dog mauling, since I've been fortunate enough never to have experience that or known anyone who has. I was a little wary of Googling the topic, since I wasn't sure what kinds of graphic pictures and tales I would find. But I decided to look at whatever might be available and helpful, regardless of how brutal or heartbreaking.
The first thing I found was a description of what happened during an actual attack in San Francisco based on information presented in court. There were no pictures associated with it (which is probably a good thing), but it gave me a general idea of what animal, as well as human behavior can be like during that kind of an event. Then I ventured into the images. Most of the pictures of dog attack victims were people (mostly children) badly bruised and full of stitches. These were sad, but they were taken some time after they had been treated and were not what I needed to see. I did find a few, though that were taken right after the attack with parts of their faces missing and fresh wounds all over their bodies. They were graphic and sad (and adults), but I think the overriding emotion while viewing these was curiosity. Is it wrong that I found them interesting, not in the entertaining sense, but in the Wow, is that really what it looks like? sense? By the way, the lady who had the first face transplant in France didn't look half bad a year after her surgery. The last I had seen her, it was shortly after she had been released from the hospital and it looked like her face was sliding off her skull. Now, she looks almost normal.
When I was done with those, I worked up the courage to click on the video links. The first one that popped up was from National Geographic, and it showed the different techniques that dogs use on their prey/victims. The demonstration used professional dog trainers and was very informative. The dogs often disable their prey by knocking them down with their weight, then they attempt to get a good grip with their jaws so they can lock on and use a twisting motion to essentially tear them up.
After that, I started clicking on other links, mostly in YouTube, to see what other people had captured. I'm happy to report that I didn't come across any videos of actual dog attacks. The rest of the videos were mostly made in fun or as jokes, and they eventually led to cute videos of dogs and cats playing together. It was a nice come-down after some of the brutal pictures and stories I had read before. And it turned out to be educational as well. What I learned was that dogs who are serious about killing their prey tend to go for the neck, face and body (aiming for vital organs), while dogs who are just playing tend to bite on ends of limbs and clothing, such as hands, pant legs and sleeves. Then they pull with an occasional shake of the head for a mock kill. There were some videos where the dogs just grabbed onto a pant leg and dragged the person around. It was cute, but it was also a clear display of a different technique applied by the dog depending on its intent.
When I started looking into dog mauling, I half expected to be exposed to things that I would find genuinely disturbing, but I felt it would be necessary if I wanted to write a believable scene. But I think I managed to come away with enough knowledge to write the scene without having nightmares about it tonight. I'll save the nightmares for when I have to think about it in depth and write my own version of a dog attack. Hmm, maybe that's the difference. Maybe "dog attack" would have turned up more graphic results. But that's fine. I'm happy with what I have.