Well, this was scary. She’s OK, but there will be an urgent care vet visit this afternoon to verify that.
I was at the dog park with Mavis and Janet, and a grand old time was being had by all:
Less than 10 minutes later, while I was posting that photo to social media, a very large black dog, who we’d seen already and had no trouble with, attacked Mavis. It happened instantly: the commotion, Mavis screaming, Mavis on the ground with a dog 4x-5x bigger than her on top of her, only about 10 feet away from me.
I yelled and ran to intervene. The owner of the other dog was 30-50 feet away, and by the she got near, I had already broken up the scuffle and taken Mavis away. She never did say anything to me or apologize or anything like that, which is really shitty. She just wandered off while I was checking to see if Mavis was injured.
I got this photo then, while sitting on a bench. Mavis was panting and trembling, and her neck and shoulders had a lot of saliva on them. But thankfully, no evidence of bleeding or abrasions, though clearly Mavis had to have been chomped to be so damp.
This was about 11:25am; our usual vet was unable to get her in today or tomorrow, so we’re going to an urgent care vet appointment for a check-up at 4:45pm. I expect Mavis will end up with some swelling and bruising and probably need some pain meds.
I hope she’ll eventually be able to return to the dog park and have fun again. She was very nervous and stayed very close to me as we walked back to the car. Usually she runs with Janet on fetches, but not after the attack.
Mavis is a gentle soul with a long memory. When she gets skeered it sticks with her. She still does not like walking past a house in our neighborhood where a gust of wind once made an inflatable Santa move unexpectedly, and that was 18 months ago. When walking by there we have to go to the other side of the street.
Seeing that happen to your sweet little doggy girl is upsetting. I remain discombobulated by it.