A Very Scary Dog Experience

[danaf]

I have two miniature snauzers. A boy and a girl. They always wear their harnesses. I don't know why, I guess it's just easier for me to control them if I need to.

Anyway, they love each other and are always playing.

I'm sitting in the living room and all of a sudden I hear them screaming/fighting in the back yard. I go out to see what's going on and it looks as though one of them has the other by the kneck. Upon closer inspection, the boy somehow got the girls color wrapped around inside of his mouth - twice. So there was no pull. If he moved, he was choking her - litterally choking her. And the situation wasn't comfortable for him either.

Since they are harnesses, unhooking the back didn't give any pull to the kneck part.

Hear I am - alone (my husband is away), panicking, terrified. The only thing I could do was cut the harness off the girl but it was so tight I was scared if they started fighting again - I'd cut her. So I ran and got my next door neighbor who helped me hold them down and thank god I was able to cut the harness off.

So big big lesson learned with these harnesses.

Thank god they are ok. The boy got a little beat up over his eye but he'll be ok.

I wonder if these two do-do's realized that this was an accident or if they think it was an actual fight?

They never fight - they are like Romeo and Juliet. I just don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to anymore BS. That was plenty of drama for one night!

Thanks for listening to my drama vent.

[lrprn]

Glad to hear your sweet puppies are ok, Dana! Quick thinking on your part to cut the too-tight harness off - nice job!

[Minnymouth]

danaf,
Since I have two dogs also, I can relate to the "accidently fighting" issue.........
Your dogs felt "pinned down" after they got the harness locked together. One was trapped and the other was getting hurt because they couldn't get apart. When a dog feels trapped (whatever the reason) - they come up fighting. Not necessarily at each other, but at whatever is holding them back.
I'm sure as soon at the incident was over - they were okay and checking each other out to make sure each other was okay, huh!!!

My two girls eat out of the same bowl, sleep together, etc..... Yet they both require "their own space" at times.....

Mine have been tangled up together and come out fighting trying to get loose.......

At home in the yard, all they have on is their collars.....

Harness/collars are great for walking dogs & cats..... BUT if your not around they can get hung easily in them...... They can scratch themselves and get their legs hung in the harness and really get tangled up in the harness. I had it happen to a cat of mine, she about choked herself till I found her trapped in it. They had to cut her out of it (she had about ripped her leg off and around her neck she was cut real deep) - just fighting to get out of it. I found one of my kittens "hung" by her collar on the bedsprings under the bed.. she lived thru it, but its a good thing I heard her and found her.... From then on no more collars in my cats.

I'm sure hunters have experienced loosing a beagle or hunting dog because they go "caught" somewhere by their collars and never came back home....

Will your dogs stay mad at each other - I doubt it - their friends....... and probably still talk about "their experience"!!!!

And they probably look at you and wonder "WHAT HAPPENED"........ and thanks Mom for getting us loose!!!!

[MomIcantFindmy]

I have three miniture schnausers too!! Two boys and a girl. They get along great but every once in a while one will get snappy with the other and they just go to their corners. Then later they are playing again. I don't begin to understand dog psychy but they seem to always want to get back to that playfull friendship they have.

You did a wonderful thing cutting them out. Good thinking on your toes!!

A funny story.........our girl schnauser gave birth this last halloween, 8 days ago. 5 puppies (one did not make it) so we have 4 puppies. All of them are spoken for and now it is time to neuter/spay the two that mated. So the Mama dog is with her litter in a corner of my daughters room with blankets and a warming light etc. Quite content and being a good mommie.......
The Daddy dog comes in to take a peak and Mama dog stands up and stares at him ...Daddy dog inches closer.....Mama dog (who is VERY protective of her pups.......latches onto Daddy dog by the facial hair and escorts him right out of the room. The Mama dog goes back to her pups like nuthing happened. The Daddy dog just let her do this...however, now he won't go near the room the puppy's are in...........it just made me laugh.

[BKOnce]

Isn't that mazing... "animal instinct" is totally different from "human nature". Without in-born human reasoning/knowledge, they are always "carefee", "playful", "sponataneous" yet "impulsive" personality.. ..Without human intellect/logic yet they are endowed with "compassion" , "caring", "fully emotional attachment"... etc..

[danaf]

I've had dogs for many years and this is the first time this has happened.

I was so unnerved last night I had to take a valium.

I am taking them to the vet in a while. The boy has a 'black' eye which is now a little pussy. And the whites of the girls eye have blood (from her circulation being cut off).

They are in good spirits though. A little leary of each other so I guess they think it was a fight. But they are trying to be friends with each other. Poor babies.

I'm just just they are both alive. It could have been a lot worse. The girl is stronger than the boy and she could have taken his eye out completely. Or she could have been strangled to death.

I'm just glad I have smaller dogs. All dogs can be vicious when in certain situations but I wouldn't have been able to handle larger dogs in this type of situation.

[HenriettaHen]

Whew! This brought back a scary memory. My Mom had a husky years back, and she would picket him outside on a coated cable lead during the day when she was at work. I lived two houses down the road at the time, and worked nights - so I would often walk over and see the dog during the day.

On a very cold January day, I went over to check on the dog, and as I came around the corner, I realized that I could hear some pretty awful noises coming from over there (about 1/4 mi away). I started running.

There was the husky and a neighborhood basset hound locked together tight by that lead and their collars. They were both in extreme distress, the husky barely breathing and the hound being strangulated just above the pelvis and screaming bloody murder. They had obviously been biting each other, and my mother's dog was on the ground in a patch of bloody snow. NOT a pretty situation! When I approached them, it made things worse. I was afraid they were going to die there right in front of my eyes.

Luckily for all concerned, the neighbor man (not his dawg, either) came running over from the other side of the house carrying a long poled butterfly net and a pair of loppers. I put the net over the basset hound's head and held him down while the he cut the lead with the loppers, immediately releasing both dogs. Both of them required stitches and a night in the hospital - ouch!

On the farm, one sees some awful stuff with animals getting "hung up".

Moral of the story? BE NICE TO YOUR NEIGHBORS, THEY MAY HAVE TO SAVE YOUR BUTT SOMEDAY.

;^)

[Minnymouth]

Most animals in nature do the following:

Feed their young or show them how to feed
Play, groom, love and cuddle them
Protect them from others
Guide them on how life is and its dangerous side
Grieve for them if they die
Many families travel in groups everybody "babysitting"..

Nature is amazing.....................