Dog Fight

Before I explain what happened, I need to give you a mental picture. The Wegers have 2 acres, one acre where the house is and it is nice and landscaped and second acre, which is ugly and where Silvia keeps her chickens and garden... we call this acre "the other side" :) The german shephards stay only on the side with the house and they usually wear shock collars so they can't leave this acre even if the gates are left open. I know some people think that is cruel, but after what I saw today... it is a very GOOD idea!

For almost a week there has been a stray dog living on the other side in the pump house. Poor dog was dumped by someone because he was wearing a collar, but he was starving. The poor thing was literally a skeleton and was so weak he could barely walk. He somehow got in and was pretty much laying there ready to die when Lew found him. Lew gave him food and water and called Animal Control. Well, since it was the weekend, they couldn't come til Monday. So we gave it food and water everyday and just wished they would come pick him us and put the poor dog out of his misery. He cried everytime he got up to eat! SO sad! There was even talk about nursing him back to health and then letting him stay on the other side to scare away the possums that eat the chickens... but they decided against that, prob cuz the dog might eat the chickens. Alsatian, the male german shephard was very aggressive towards this dog, very protective of his home. He would stand at the fence and growl and bark! Well, today I was outside with the boys and the stray dog came out of the pump house and layed in the sun. I thought "wow, he looks much better, he's not even limping anymore!" That was pretty exciting. Alsatian was at the gate barking at him again. I looked away and before I knew it, I heard Alsatian going crazy! I looked back and he had opened the gate somehow and was attacking the poor dog... who was putting up a pretty good fight for being so weak to begin with! Alsatian didn't have his shock collar on! So I started running towards them and yelling at Jackson to go get Grandma. He pretty much just stood there and looked at me. Not very helpful in an emergency situation :) I kept my distance but was yelling at Alsatian to stop and go back but he wouldn't listen to me. After about a minute of yelling at him I ran back to the house and got Silvia. She came and Alsatian listened to her. At first she waid no and told him to stop But then she was saying it much nicer and was telling him "Good dog, good boy." and he came to her. I learned a lot about dog psychology today. Alsatian thought he was protecting his family and when she was praising him for that, he backed off and let the dog alone. Lesson learned on my part. The other dog seemed ok although I didn't get a good look since he crawled back into the pump house. And guess what, about a minute later Animal Control showed up! It was sad to see how they lifted this full grown dog up by a loop around his neck to put him in the truck, but they have to do it somehow. I hope they keep feeding him and someone adopts him, but I doubt it, he only has 1 week. It's sad, but there are just so many strays around her. It breaks my heart. Anyway, that was my experience with trying to break up a dog fight... unsuccessfully. It was scary to see though. I'd hate to be anyone who tried to break into this house!!