"I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands.
When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands;
then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes,
but I never say naught thereat.
For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes,
but never a friend like that."
~W. Dayton Wedgefarth
Dog lovers we are. It has certainly been proven this week. I have to blog about this because, for me, this blog is about all aspects of our life as a family, even the hard ones. On Wednesday evening, the kids took all 3 dogs for a walk. Upon returning, Abby and Maggie got into a fight in our backyard. I do believe that Maggie would have fought until she killed Abby. After what seemed like an eternity, and trying so many different things to break them up, I was finally able to get Maggie to loosen her grip on Abby, and Abby ran into the house. Both of them were bleeding and limping around. I have to say, it was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed. Bert just watched and barked, like he didn't know what was happening.
The kids were so scared and crying.
I was trying to be brave, but was having some difficulty with that. I started to bandage Abby up, after bathing her to get the blood off and inspect her wounds. She was shaking uncontrollably. After getting her cuddled into some blankets, Maggie was let in so I could inspect her wounds. She, too, had some battle scars. I bandaged her up. Then came the hard part...
Our only option, it seemed, that night was to give Maggie to another home or take her to the Humane Society. We are huge advocates for getting "second hand" dogs, and strongly support the Utah Humane Society. We cried for hours, all of us, and decided that we would take her there on Thursday afternoon.
Thursday morning was filled with more tears and goodbyes from the kids to Maggie. It was so hard to watch and my gut was wondering through all of this if we had other options. While Rich was in meetings, I called our vet. They highly recommended a company called Bark Busters to help remedy this behavior. I didn't know that Rich was also trying to think of other options at that time, as he didn't feel right giving her up and making her someone else' s problem. We decided to cancel our upcoming trip to Vegas and, instead, spend the money on getting the dogs and our family the training we need to make this a happy home for all of us.
So, the kids thought they would come home to only 2 dogs. Cole made it through his day at school, thinking that our decision from the night before was final. Morgan had a rough day at school, could barely eat, and her teacher called me at 2 o'clock to come get her, as she had thrown up...on Mrs. Winzenried's lap top. She was totally distraught by the fact that Maggie was going away. Both kids were thrilled to find Maggie waiting for them, and were happy to give up our trip over Thanksgiving in order to pay for training.
The trainer was not available until December 4, but we will get by until then. Wish us luck and the ability to "learn new tricks" as we begin this training! We'll let you know how it goes.
