170/365

Bad news everyone... I'm under house arrest for the next 10 days...my mom will tell you the story...

The other night Bill and I were outside on our patio, and Max was tied up on his lead.  We stepped inside to finish up dinner and we heard a little girl crying and then Max barked (just a one bark, not a growl).  We didn't think anything of it because there are always kids running around and screaming in our courtyard and Max will occasionally bark, no big deal.  When we walked out to the patio an off-duty sheriff came running up and asked us what happened.  We were like, "what do you mean what happened?"  He told us the little girl we heard crying had a big gash on her face and was bleeding, and he said the dad thought our dog had bit her.  

Bill: "WHAT!"

Me: "EXCUSE ME?!"

We both looked at Max and looked back at the guy and were like "huh"? If you know Max then you know he has never been aggressive, in fact, he has let a 4 year old boy wrestle him and just took it.  I worked with Max since he was a puppy to make sure he wasn't aggressive; you can take a bone away from him and he will just look at you, "can I have it back?"  

The off-duty sheriff asked if he could look at Max and of course we agreed.  He looked in his mouth, had his hands all in his mouth and told us that there was definitely no evidence that our dog bit the little girl, and he is certainly not an aggressive dog.  He said he would talk with the family and get this all straightened out.

Well the little girl was definitely hurt, how we don't know, but she was already on her way to the ER.  

The following day we had a notice on our door from Animal Control, we needed to contact them immediately regarding the incident from the night before.  The girl told the doctor that our dog had bitten her, and the doctor could not definitively confirm whether or not the injury was a bite, there were not any "puncture wounds" just a large gash.  Unfortunately for us, since she thinks the dog bit her, they have to contact Animal Control and conduct an investigation.  Animal Control needed to see our vet records (which we provided) and said that since he is current on all his shots we can keep him at home, but he has to stay inside and can only go out, on a leash, to do his business and has to come back in.  He has to be quarantined for 10 days to see if the girl develops any symptoms of rabies, however, since we were able to provide records that he has had his rabies shot this year, we are able to keep him at home.

Later last night, after Animal Control had been by, the family of the little girl put a letter on our door.  They said after talking to the off-duty sheriff, and talking with their daughter, and also looking around where she was hurt, they are confident that our dog did not bite her.  They said she most likely tripped on an in-ground sprinkler and fell onto the edge of the patio/concrete.  The dad also went on to say he has told the little girl to not go over and pet the dogs that are out.  When she fell and was crying, he asked her if the dog bit her, and since she wasn't supposed to be over there, he thinks that she just said yes thinking that in her 4 year old mind that would mean she wasn't in trouble.  The family apologized to us and said they would relay this information to Animal Control to get everything straight.

Unfortunately though, once Animal Control conducts an investigation and the paperwork has started, there is no going back.  We still have to keep Max inside for 10 days and cannot break the quarantine.  I am trying to focus on the positive, that Max gets to stay with us and this will all go away after 10 days (and after he is examined by a vet to make sure he's "non-aggressive").  I'm not going to lie though, this whole situation makes me very angry.  We had our dog on our property, tied up, and yet we are being punished when Max (and Bill and I), did nothing wrong.  Yes, it could be a lot worse and yes, it's only 10 days. 

And what makes it even more frustrating is that we have had to cancel our plans to stay at a mountain resort this weekend where we going to go hiking around the Beartooth Mountains.  But think positive, right? We can reschedule our weekend getaway, and we not only get to keep our dog at home, but we get to keep him, which as you know he is the most amazing, irreplaceable dog :-)

Just a warning to pet owners out there, BE VERY CAREFUL!