dog bite

.

this past weekend provided two firsts for us as a family & for garrett personally. a dog bite + stitches. a slightly, kind of, very, horrifically terrifying incident.

brian had the three big kids out to lunch. returned with brooks sleeping, so he brought him in to put him down. garrett & lucy headed to the cul-de-sac where four adults, three children & two dogs were all out enjoying the sunshine.

minutes later, garrett’s back in the kitchen with one of the dog’s owners. bleeding from over his left eye. it took everything in my momma bear heart not to simply explode at my neighbor for their carelessness. dogs being off leash in our county is against the law. period. (we’ve been cordial & never complained, never called Animal Control. party’s over now, people, they’re being called. every.single.time.). 

the springer spaniel, apparently *sprung* at garrett when he leaned down to pet her & went in for a hug. obviously we’ve told our kids over & over never to go near a dog’s face. but it happened & the result was this. devastating for our little man.

he was super brave, though. tears dried up relatively quickly once he was back inside. he did a cry a little through the seven stitches, but held perfectly still for the doctor. the next morning his eye was swollen & looked pretty gnarly (UFC, anyone?). fortunately the bruising’s been minimal & he hasn’t complained of too much pain. thankfully garrett’s actual eyeball wasn’t injured at all.

garrett’s emotional healing is what concerns us the most at this point. the boy who has LOVED all animals & asked us for a dog countless times in the last two years has made multiple statements about not liking dogs, not petting them, never wanting them in our house, etc. as a child i was PETRIFIED of dogs & was never even bitten. so i can’t imagine the fear that may exist in his little heart now. so we’ll go slow in the reintroduction of dogs to our little man’s personal space. we’ll follow his lead. hopefully his (& our) love for dogs can be restored. 

in the meantime, folks – here’s my rant!, keep your animals on a leash. in a fence (invisible or otherwise). frankly, just say no when people at the park ask to pet your dog. when friends come for a visit, be courteous & put your animals (yes, cats too) away PRIOR TO your friends walking through the door. (this coming from the girl who wasn’t always the best at this with her own 95# baby. & that dog was my baby pre-kids. to everyone huck ever *loved*, i’m so sorry.) know the laws in your county (in ours, no dogs are allowed off the leash OR to be tethered) – follow the law in order to protect people AND your pet. & just because your dog has never bitten anyone, doesn’t mean they won’t. my neighbor’s dog never had either.

ok, rant complete. thanks for all the prayers for garrett!