I still can't believe what just happened about 2 hours ago. I'll share this story, but I'm going to have a hard time...because
I honestly can't believe this.
I was attacked by our family pug, Percy. Stop laughing! I'm dead serious.
I climbed out of bed at
3:30 A.M. because I heard strange noises coming from the kitchen. I saw that Percy had climbed on to the kitchen table and was tearing into a bag of
Bite-size Snickers bars. The last time he ate Chocolate, He was
hospitalized and nearly died. No matter how much we feed him, He keeps going back to the chocolate at every opportunity.
So I rushed in and took the bag away from him. He hopped off the table and strolled into the corner of the room. He wasn't facing me. I saw he had a piece of chocolate clenched in his jaw. He was trying to hide it from me.
I approached him carefully and said gently "Percy.....what do you have there?..you can't eat that, it makes you sick..."
He made a low threatening growl in the back of his throat, all the hairs on his back stood straight up and slowly turned to face me.
I backed away in surprise and then he just lunged at me. His jaws gnashing, his eyes narrowed, ears back and
bit into my leg!! I ran away and lept on the sofa in shock. I fought him off with a sofa pillow...He grabbed the end of it with his jaw and thrashed it back and forth! He was making the most horrible noises!
I broke into a run and he chased after me.
He bit into my pants and wouldn't release the grip with his jaws. He was still attached when I jumped over the kitchen gate. The weight of both of us caused the entire gate to crash over. The garbage can fell and some bottles smashed on the floor. Percy was on top of me. He was flipping out, barking and growling.
I started screaming. My brother came in and Percy ran quickly into the other room. He disciplined him. My youngest sister also came running in.
There I was on the floor, with shards of glass surrounding me. A broken gate and cuts on my arms and legs. I also have a nice little bite on my leg. To say I was a little "
shaken up" would be an understatement. I was in a state of
complete shock. I was trembling.
How could Percy attack me??"
He was upset because you took away his food, he was probably hungry", Amber said fearfully "
He was afraid you were going to take away the last little piece he had left, so he fought for it. He didn't mean to hurt you though. He was just cornered. He didn't know what else to do. He loves you, Clarity...you know that."
Those were my little sister's exact words. (she's incredibly wise and insightful for her age)
My brother urged me to come into the room and have a face off with Percy. "
You need to stare him in the eye and let him know that YOU are in the right.", He said "
You have to let him know that you were just trying to do what was best for him and that you're in charge here. Otherwise he'll think you're beneath him. Maybe you've been exhibiting passive traits lately and he thought he was higher than you on the food scale. He was trying to exert his dominance"
I refused to have a face off. I was too shaken up. Confrontation isn't my thing. Everytime I try, the results are disasterous.
We fixed the gate and both my siblings went to bed. I cleaned my wounds in the sink, it wasn't that bad. Just a few scratches, welts and cuts. Mostly on my arms and legs. The bite isn't so deep. I'll live.
It felt like a fitting end to a very horrible week. When I stepped out of the bathroom, I walked back into into the kitchen. Percy saw me, he made a little whimpering noise and laid down on the ground in front of me. He peered up at me with his huge eyes.
How can you resist this face? Can you believe
this dog attacked me??
I hesitantly and shakily approached him and sat down. He went over to me, licked my hand, My face and then rested his head on my lap. He seemed genuinely remorseful. I couldn't get over the shock of what he had done... but it's over. I forgive him.
We sat together for a long time while I reflected on the events of this week and tears blurred my vision.
Now I should crawl back into bed and try to fall back to sleep. Animals,
as well as people, are capable of acting in a way that is completely unpredictable, strange, confusing and hurtful when they're in need. From now on, If Percy has a piece of chocolate in his mouth, I'm going to just look the other way. I've learned. I wont be bitten twice.
But this
isn't helping me resolve my fear of dogs. All progress I've made of the past few years has been demolished. It's time for me to start building trust in canines again from the ground up. I've lost trust in a lot of things this week.
*****
My Mother is coming back from Jordan today.
To Eric: Thank you for your support, understanding and unconditional love this week. I would have had an emotional breakdown if it weren't for you. You're amazing.