The hand what feeds him.  That’s the one he bit.  And both arms.

the beast

I know my dog.  I know I should not have had him in the car when it makes him go nutso.  Precious was closing her car door as we were going off to school.  I know this makes Dog go nuts so I put my hand up to be sure he stayed in the front seat.  I did not want to risk his jumping in the back during his nutsania and nipping Precious.  So, he nipped my hand instead.  Deciding he should not be rewarded with a car ride, I took him by the scruff of his neck to remove him from his privileged car trip.  Nutsmania caused him to bite first one arm and then the other, holding on tightly until I could manually remove his vice-grip jaw.  He’s strong.  I’m not bragging.  And it hurt like hell.  Arms were on fire under my sweatshirt but I dared not look with Precious in the car.  I was sure they would be bloodied (but they were not).  The pain was secondary to the shock that I knew we would have to put him down.

Lots of tears while discussing with Hubby and later the vet.  Trying to justify ending this dog’s life when he provided so much joy, love, and humor to our lives with just this couple of seconds where he did the wrong thing.  Or did I do the wrong thing when I chose to let him in the car knowing it brings on his nutsy?  All dogs are not golden-retriever-easy.  Some bark, or eat feces, or get cancer.  We do our best to give these members of our families a good life while balancing our own safety and happiness.

If I heard a story of a mom being biten by her dog, and knew they had a child in the house, there would be no question in my mind that the family should put the dog down or they could only blame themselves for what could come next.  What responsible parent could potentially put a child at risk?

Except I don’t think my child IS at risk.  Dog has never hurt her.  Dog has some oddities that we think we can control if we keep him away from situations that bring on the nutsy.

So we made a decision to put him on antidepressants (he’s mine, right?) to see if we can tame the nutsy.  And we let him live a while more and see how it goes.  See if drugs can tame the beast.

I decided very shortly after Precious was born that I would not judge mothers and how they chose to mother.  The combination of baby’s temperament with an individual mom brought too many outcomes for me to think I could sit in judgement of another mother’s choices short of outright abuse.  Might the same be true for dog owners?  On the outside looking in, I’m certain it’s a NO!  If there is ANY question of safety, a dog should be removed from the home.  But sitting here, on the inside, right next to Dog, the decision just isn’t so clear.