Be careful out there!

My heart is broken today. One of my friends from the Chinese Crested forum went outside to walk his two dogs yesterday, and one of the dogs, a little, white Pomeranian, was attacked by a larger dog that was off-leash. The little pom passed away last night in the emergency veterinarian hospital.

This kind of story hurts on so many levels. Here was a guy who was doing everything right. A doting dad who takes superb care of his pets, he always comes across as someone for whom these dogs are one of the great joys in life. And yet, in an instant, without any warning, it all turned so horribly, horribly tragic.

I admit that I am not a very good mother sometimes. I have little dogs, and I have a nice, fenced-in yard, and my dogs don’t get exercised around the neighborhood as much as they probably should. But when I hear stories like this, I am glad that they have a place to run around together that is relatively safe. The worst likely encounter they might have in our yard would be with a skunk. I’d love to say that it’s because I’m so very careful with them, but it’s really more about me being lazy, truth be told. However, when I hear stories like this one, I don’t feel so bad about being lazy.

The rumor is that the dog who attacked was not a stray, but a neighbor’s “security” pet who was allowed to walk around off-leash. The fault, if this is true, lies with this dog’s owner, but my friend does not even know who he is-- and no amount of blaming is going to bring back this sweet little life.

It can all happen so fast. Please, please…be careful out there!