I'll certainly be keeping an eye out, but honestly, I'll be surprised if I see her again. This happened next to a river about a mile downstream from a public beach, so she might have been from anywhere. I also board about 45 minutes away from where I live, so I'm only able to go out a bit less than once a week, and this time of year, I don't always ride when I visit. I certainly hope that her dogs' behavior taught her that she needs to gain better voice command over them, but honestly I never heard her say anything. It was really weird. I would almost wonder if she set them on me on purpose, but that seems so unlikely. If this had been a trained pack and deliberate malice rather than an untrained pack and incompetence, I don't think I could have stopped them; still, there is this weird thread of doubt.
Coba seems ok---it's funny, he was all frisky and happy right after it happened, tail up, all proud---"Yay, we won, we drove them off! Our pack is strongest!" Silly little thing. When he realized that I was hurt the next morning, he got very concerned and clingy. His attitude seems to be improving with my health, but more than any of the others, Coba is hyper-aware of what I'm doing and feeling, and he is prone to emotional sensitivity and stress if he thinks something is wring. I did find one small tooth-puncture in his leg, but it remains clean and healing. I am glad that he's at least well armored by all of that coat, because he certainly has no other defense, and that attack might have sent a similarly sized dog with less coat to the vet.
He got to play with a very gentle and even timid shepherd bitch at the park today, so I don't think he took emotional/social harm by it. My horse, on the other hand, may now be much more sensitive about dogs, which is really annoying. Coba was the only one I took with me on that ride, which I'm glad of, even though Bliss' presence by itself often de-escalates dog aggression because he's so huge and nonviolent. I have never met a dog with its chase/grab/kill/eat sequence, and the canine social values that go with that, so utterly disassembled, and watching more typically wired dogs try to figure him out can be pretty funny. This pack was too determined; they would have taken him right down.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-01-04 04:02 am (UTC)Coba seems ok---it's funny, he was all frisky and happy right after it happened, tail up, all proud---"Yay, we won, we drove them off! Our pack is strongest!" Silly little thing. When he realized that I was hurt the next morning, he got very concerned and clingy. His attitude seems to be improving with my health, but more than any of the others, Coba is hyper-aware of what I'm doing and feeling, and he is prone to emotional sensitivity and stress if he thinks something is wring. I did find one small tooth-puncture in his leg, but it remains clean and healing. I am glad that he's at least well armored by all of that coat, because he certainly has no other defense, and that attack might have sent a similarly sized dog with less coat to the vet.
He got to play with a very gentle and even timid shepherd bitch at the park today, so I don't think he took emotional/social harm by it. My horse, on the other hand, may now be much more sensitive about dogs, which is really annoying. Coba was the only one I took with me on that ride, which I'm glad of, even though Bliss' presence by itself often de-escalates dog aggression because he's so huge and nonviolent. I have never met a dog with its chase/grab/kill/eat sequence, and the canine social values that go with that, so utterly disassembled, and watching more typically wired dogs try to figure him out can be pretty funny. This pack was too determined; they would have taken him right down.