I mentioned our inter-dog aggression problems in the past (here and here). What I haven’t told you is we got rid of Politically Correct Dog (PCD). We still have Politically Incorrect Dog (PID). It’s not as bad as it sounds. A while back, the in-laws’ lost their dog due to health problems. They asked if they could borrow PCD for a week or so to help scare off squirrels in their bird feeder and because they’ve always liked PCD. Also, they’d been looking for another dog and hadn’t had much luck. Basically, he went there and never really came back. No big deal, really. He was just 3 miles up the street and we knew he was taken care of.

Last week, the in-laws went out of town and asked that we watch PCD while they were gone. So, Junior is swinging on the play set and I’m pushing her. The dogs are behind me and playing a bit of tug and chase. I wasn’t watching them like I should have been but was focused on swinging my little girl. Then, I hear the sound of them fighting. I go and break it up by grabbing each dog’s collar and pulling them apart. When I get it broken up, PID looks like he’s been beaten half to death. He’s got blood all over him and is limping. I check him out and he otherwise looks fine. Then, I find the problem. I look at PCD and his lip is swollen. I take a closer look and realize his front left canine tooth is sticking directly to the side. He had bled all over PID. Well, crap. Call up the vet and head that way.

Get to the vet, she tells me they’ll have to put him under and extract the tooth. She seems mostly unconcerned about it. I tell her to go ahead and ask if, while he’s under, they could trim his nails while they’re at it. A couple hours’ later, they call. They tell me his other canine tooth is gone as well. I, finding it odd that he’d lose two teeth, ask if he’s having gum or tooth troubles that would have lead to that. She says both were done today and the dogs probably bit each other’s mouths at the same time.

Now, of course, the in-laws are upset with PID because, well, he looks a certain way. Our dog aggression troubles pre-date PID’s existence. PCD has a long history of dog aggression with random dogs he’s been in contact with. Unfortunately for him, PID don’t play like that. PID fights back and, frankly, at eight years old, PCD isn’t exactly a spring chicken in his doggie dominance prime. It’s a hard lesson and maybe he learned it this time while he’s eating his soft canned dog food until his mouth heals.

Posted in uncategorized on April 4th, 2006 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |