Too Many Possible Titles for this Blog Post

 

"When Things are Not What They Seem"

or

"Another Heartache"

or

"Cuddly to Cujo"

These are all possible titles for this blog post. I am not sure why I ever, ever, EVER think life can be predictable as if God's will and Sovereignty occasionally suspends itself for my personal whim.

We met "Bear" Saturday afternoon in Alexandria on a cold and windy day. He was not what we expected. Undisciplined. Very strong. Short/stocky for a lab. Almost a little insane, but can you blame a dog that has been living at the vet for almost 3 weeks? But he was more handsome in person and despite the "behavioral" issues (which we knew could be trained to obedience), he was happy to be with us. And he seemed to respond to Danny as the "alpha."

We stayed in a pet friendly hotel and Michael stopped by to visit and we video chatted with the Gardners for Bear to meet Bear.  Danny gave him a much needed bath and he cooperated. He loved his new bo-bo and was happy to go for a walk. He didn't know many commands, but consistently could "sit."

It was a challenging situation trying to become attached --- probably as much for him as for us. But we were willing to give him a chance. We managed to drive him back to Raleigh and the more the hours passed the more we all seem to start to get connected. We went for a 3 mile walk and took a nap and then we thought we'd go for a ride to the pet smart.

He was, like he had been in the past 24 hours, shown enthusiasm when we said, "Go for a ride?" He immediately wagged his tail and made a little whispy bark sound as if to say, "Let's go! Let's go!"

He also did that when we would say, "Go potty?" and "Go for a walk?" He would get all happy seeing the leash. These are all good things to see in a lab.

So as we prepared to go for our ride to Pet Smart, we ran into our neighbors who have two female dogs. They all met -- both female dogs showed submission and Bear didn't seem bothered by it.

Danny opened the hatchback door of the truck and Bear immediately jumped while I got into the passenger seat. Just like an untrained dog, he went up front with me and as Danny called him toward the back area and I encouraged to go back all seemed fine. But it was not.

Without any indication, Bear jumped toward the back and went into full force vicious attack toward Danny who was waiting to help take the his leash off.

We are not sure what set Bear off but he literally went bollistic and attacked Danny more than once. Danny was able to get Bear off of him and kick him in the face which made Bear go back into the truck. Bear tried to go for Danny again but Danny was able to close the hatchback door on him.

At this time I got out of the truck in a panic and tried to climb on top of the truck on the front outside, because I knew if I didn't not get up high, and Bear was not contained I could be in trouble.

So there it was, just 30 hours later this was our situation with our new dog. It is one of the most traumatic experiences and thankfully -- PRAISE GOD -- only Danny's left thumb was really bitten. He has lots of scratched and teeth marks on his arms. We were in shock and stunned and and and and .....

Ultimately we called Animal Control. They showed up 40 minutes later and let Bear out of the car and he seemed back to "normal" and quite happy to come out. They will have him quarantined for 10 days and then put him down.

We called the Lab Rescue in VA and she was stunned and in horror as well.

So there is my heartache, small as it is. The emotions for both of us had us reeling. "What if..." or "It could have been worse if...." were constant thoughts.

I have more on this topic -- especially as it relates to who God is and not so much on what Bear wasn't.

Danny is okay. He went to the Dr.s' today and is on an anti-biotic. We'll be in touch with Animal Control to make sure there isn't a possibility of rabies despite Bear being up-to-date on his shots. Danny also thinks, and I think there's merit, that Bear is not a full breed lab because of how "stocky" he was; maybe some pit mixed in.....

I heard Danny say to Bitty, "You know, you are starting to look really good to me now."