It's been a rough day. My dog was attacked tonight by a pair of dogs, one of them looked like a red husky and the other an Alaskan malamute.

This isn't the first time my dog has been attacked. The first time was a few years ago. We were living in an apartment in another part of this town and our neighbor had a pit bull that he kept in the back yard. This particular day I came home from work and the pit bull was roaming around free in their front yard. I take my dog with me to work and had him in the car; seeing the pit bull made me nervous so I picked up Demitri (my black pug) and headed towards the house with him in my arms. As soon as I stepped out of the car the pit bull approached me. I have spent a lot of time around dogs and thought myself a decent judge of dog character. It did not seem as though the pit bull was approaching with any intent other then to see what was going on and say "hi." That could not have been further from the truth. When the bull got close enough he jumped up grabbed Demitri by the rear leg and ripped him out of my arms. Demitri tried to defend himself from the bigger dog by biting him back. The pit bull let go of the rear leg and bit Demitri on the lower jaw then began to whip his body around like he was flinging a rag doll. I quickly attempted to wrench the pit bull's jaws apart while screaming for help from the owner, but as anyone who has attempted this can attest, trying to open a pit bull's jaw can be a difficult task. I gave up on that and attempted to punch the pit bull's head and force him to release my dog. About that time the owner of the pit bull came to my aid and the two of us forced the pit bull to release Demitri. The owner apologized repeatedly and offered to pay any vet bills. Luckily it hurt Demitri's pride more then it injured him, he had a small puncture wound near the base of his tail and was very shy, refusing to let anyone but me get near him.

Tonight was far worse. I was preparing for my saturday night Warhammer Fantasy RPG game when my wife called in near hysterics. Demitri had been attacked by two dogs who had slipped under our rear fence. She had been downstairs and did not realize immediately what was transpiring. When she realized what was happening and rushed to his aid she chased the two dogs away and found Demitri lying on the ground not moving, with labored breathing. I rushed home to find him still lying not moving at all. One of his eyes was significantly bloodshot and his fur was all matted with saliva and blood. I did my best to lay a towel next to him and gently slide him onto it. His leg was bleeding profusely and he did not respond at all to me moving him. When I put him in the car I got the first positive response from him. No longer was he in the environment of the attack; he turned and looked up at me breathing very heavily like he does when he is very nervous or upset. He did not move again until we arrived at the vet. I took him inside and laid him on the table where he showed more signs of life. As the vet looked him over and inspected his wounds he began to come out of the shock and stood up, this was absolutely wonderful for me. I had gone from the depths of despair worrying that I might loose one of the best friends I have ever had to thinking he might be alright. The vet took him in the back shaved off all of his wounds looking for particularly nasty punctures and tears. He needed four sutures on his rectum which was torn badly (which the vet told me was a sign of a particularly violent dog attack) and had numerous puncture wounds on his neck, rear leg, and rectum/tail area. He will be quite swollen and sore tomorrow but he will survive.

This sort of thing is difficult for me to deal with. When my first wife left me I spiraled into a deep depression, loosing my job and twenty five to thirty pounds. Demitri was really the one bright point in my life. He would comfort me by sitting in my lap when I cried and he slept on my chest each night while replayed the last few years of my life over and over in my mind. To say this dog is important to me is a serious understatement. I will not sleep well tonight worrying about his wounds and his pain.