with a bloody ear
*sigh* I know i've said this in the past, but it's become painfully clear once again - in getting Anubis, we ruined Talis' life. He's become hostile and aggressive on top of his grumpy lately. This morning he ripped the hurricane tie down that his lead is attached to out of the ground to get to a dog that was walking along the back path to start a fight. By the time he got to the other dog his legs had given out under him, so he was on the ground and getting chomped on. He's got a ragged and bloody ear now, which starts bleeding again any time he shakes his head.
For those of you who aren't aware, we use hurricane shed tie downs because of the sheer size and strength of our dogs. Those goofy little screw things you can pick up in wal-mart are a joke when it comes to a great dane, so we took it a step further. Talis' lead is actually on a 12" iron spike that's got a fin-thing at the bottom point of it that is used as the 'screw' to get it down into the earth as well as anchor it while it's there. He used to be on a 3' deep one, but he's always been so mellow and gentle that when we got Anubis we switched him to the heavier duty one and put Talis on the lesser one. You know - based on that whole 'hold an elephant with dental floss' training thing. I have to admit that i am -fucking flabbergasted- that he was aggressive enough to rip that thing out of the ground and go after that dog. Flabber. Gasted.
Talis is fine; just a little damaged - there's actually a HOLE in his ear where the other dog's teeth punctured it and there are some tears at the bottom edge of the ear but he's ok. No stitches or anything; nothing they can do for the location of these wounds. He'll be sore as all get out for a week because of the charge-yank-collapse i am sure, so i'll up his daily pain management medication for a couple of days. It could have been a LOT worse, but MK was outside with them and able to get to the dogs quickly. Even he was surprised - when the other dog (and his owner, walking him) showed up at the path, he went to ANUBIS to keep him under control. It never occurred to him that TALIS was going to need to be controlled.
So yeah. My baby is bleeding at the ear. And it's become painfully painfully aware that i seriously fucked up by getting him Anubis. They STILL do not get along, and Talis' whole attitude is shifting into aggression and anger. He's still really careful and mellow with -us- but ugh... i am just... in shock. The feelings of guilt, i have over ruining my mellow old man's life are...
.....
... indescribable.
Gods. I feel like crying.
For those of you who aren't aware, we use hurricane shed tie downs because of the sheer size and strength of our dogs. Those goofy little screw things you can pick up in wal-mart are a joke when it comes to a great dane, so we took it a step further. Talis' lead is actually on a 12" iron spike that's got a fin-thing at the bottom point of it that is used as the 'screw' to get it down into the earth as well as anchor it while it's there. He used to be on a 3' deep one, but he's always been so mellow and gentle that when we got Anubis we switched him to the heavier duty one and put Talis on the lesser one. You know - based on that whole 'hold an elephant with dental floss' training thing. I have to admit that i am -fucking flabbergasted- that he was aggressive enough to rip that thing out of the ground and go after that dog. Flabber. Gasted.
Talis is fine; just a little damaged - there's actually a HOLE in his ear where the other dog's teeth punctured it and there are some tears at the bottom edge of the ear but he's ok. No stitches or anything; nothing they can do for the location of these wounds. He'll be sore as all get out for a week because of the charge-yank-collapse i am sure, so i'll up his daily pain management medication for a couple of days. It could have been a LOT worse, but MK was outside with them and able to get to the dogs quickly. Even he was surprised - when the other dog (and his owner, walking him) showed up at the path, he went to ANUBIS to keep him under control. It never occurred to him that TALIS was going to need to be controlled.
So yeah. My baby is bleeding at the ear. And it's become painfully painfully aware that i seriously fucked up by getting him Anubis. They STILL do not get along, and Talis' whole attitude is shifting into aggression and anger. He's still really careful and mellow with -us- but ugh... i am just... in shock. The feelings of guilt, i have over ruining my mellow old man's life are...
.....
... indescribable.
Gods. I feel like crying.