I waited until my sister left for school, Laura and her boyfriend left for Manhattan and my mother drove to work. I took a deep breath and entered the kitchen.
Percy was lying on the floor, He glanced up at me curiously and raised one eyebrow.
I sat on the floor and called him over. He quickly scampered to his feet and tried to leap cheerfully on my lap. But I gripped him on the sides of his face and stared him down. He made a low growl and I made a low growl back. Then he averted his eyes and tried to get out of my grasp. I waited a minute and then let him go. He ran into the corner with a pitiful little whimper. I almost felt bad.
Whether or not that will prevent future attacks is up in the air. A few people had suggested biting him back on his ear or leg. I can't imagine doing that.
This weekend we also tried to teach him NOT to eat chocolate. We put a piece on the floor and negatively reinforced him each time he approached it. (which he DID every time we pretended to look away)
The last 2 times he got into Chocolate he was hospitalized. He had dragged the kitchen chair across the floor, climbed up onto the counter, Open the bag of cookies that was shoved deep in the corner and ate the entire contents. Now we're careful not to leave any chocolate ANYWHERE in the kitchen. The cabinets aren't even safe. There is no container he wont get into.He's like a recovering junkie. But he's on the steps towards rehabilitation. He's basically a good dog at heart and I love the little guy. Chocolate simply causes him to lose his mind and flip out. We forget that our pets are wild animals that we've domesticated.
Apparently a lot of dogs have been losing it lately, These are two excerpts from our city newspaper.
A dog mauled a little girl's face
The family retriever accidentally strangled their 6 year old daughter.
My blood ran cold when I read those articles and my heart goes out to those families.
I think I'm going to stick with Cats from now on. Sure, they might be rather apathetic, but at least they're predictable. After being chased by a pack of snarling German Shephards at my Grandfather's farm at age 8, attacked by my friend's dog at age 12 and now having our family pug temporarily go stark raving mad on me. I've had enough of dogs.
*****
To Eric: We missed you so much last night. Laura, Mr. Big, Jay and I had a little party. It's not the same without you! We played Kings (Do you remember that game?) and the Queen card had me everytime. I looked around in confusion and everyone was touching their nose. "...Drink!"
It was such a fun night, I think we needed that to all re-connect. They'll be ups and downs, fights and misunderstandings...but we all love eachother and we're family. We stick together.
I love you. I wish you could just jump on a plane and fly here now. I hate this whole Green Card situation. 7 more days....
