Life and Other Stuff

A couple months ago I was at the dog park with with all 3 of our dogs. Everything was fine, then Hippo ran straight for the fence, slipped underneath (the fence is broken, I had no idea) and attacked another dog. We got really lucky that he didn’t injure the other dog and it was an acquaintance who used to work in a dog day care setting and was able to break it up.

We are rehoming Hippo back to our friend in Corpus from whom we adopted all 3 dogs. For the last 2 years Hippo has gotten into spats with our other dog Buck. I simply don’t have the skills to help him. The spats between Buck and Hippo have increased despite training, behavior modification and keeping them separated. 2 weeks ago Buck had to go to the ER and get stitches. We could always attribute it to fighting over a stray bit of food, the earthquakes in CA, or whatever.

Until we couldn’t.

A week ago we were in the back yard as normal. Hippo charged Buck out of no where and went after him unprovoked. I had to pull him off by his back legs. It was a nightmare. The only blessing was that it happened outside and not in front of the kids. They’ve seen it too many times and it’s upsetting and scary. This was by far the worst and had I not been able to get him off, Buck would likely be dead. He was shaking him.

We do not come to these types of decision lightly or overnight. We explained to the kids (and myself) that sometimes the best thing for the animal is the hardest thing for us. It’s not fair to Hippo to always be irritated and angry and aggressive. It’s definitely not fair to Buck.

The whole situation just blows. My heart breaks for the kids. And for Hippo. They are coming to terms with the situation and understand, but it’s no less painful.

For all of us.