"He's okay.....he's okay..." the nice lady shouted to me as her large dog came running right for Scully...
You see, she pulled up to where we were in the park. I had Scully on his little leash and he was happily smelling everything he could and marking every signpost we could get to. The lady saw us as we walked by her car. She opened the back hatch of her SUV but held her dogs until we walked what she thought would be "far enough" away.
We were at one of Scully's favorite signs when all of a sudden he jerked his head and began growling...I looked where he was looking and, to my horror, this huge dog was running off his leash and straight for Scully...with the lady shouting, "He's okay...he's okay...He won't bite." As I screamed back to her "You don't understand...please get your dog...you don't understand...", I bent down to get Scully but got tangled in his leash. As I picked him up, I lost my balance and fell over...the large dog was jumping on me, trying to get to him and I fell, dropping him out of my arms...Scully screamed as he landed and rolled. I twisted my back trying not to land on him...the lady grabbed her dog- she'd managed to get the other dog back in the car and kept telling me her dog wouldn't bite...Ofcourse I had blood all over me...She kept holding her dog back as he tried to get to Scully...Scully was turning and scratching me, trying to get to her dog...
The whole point of this story...is that though I wasn't sure about the biting, big dogs DO like to PLAY with little dogs...They think they're puppies so they roll them around and cause damage to their little backs...spines....discs...With Scully's past back problems I was TERRIFIED that he'd be paralyzed...which would lead me to consider the horrible decision no pet guardian ever wants to make...
So...Large Dog people who are reading this...please don't be offended....I love your dogs...As far as i'm concerned all dogs are wonderful. It's humans who turn a dog bad. Scully probably loves your dogs and would love to play...but he's probably a lot older than your playful big guy...so please...keep the leash by your side and don't let your big dogs play with the little guys, even though they're cute and it seems like no harm done...'cause down the road...the little guys will more than likely pay for it...and end up down a road no one wants to take.
And I'm not angry at the lady...she was very nice and concerned for me. She just didn't know there's a big difference between "big dog play" and "little dog play." and Scully is as happy as a clam!
