It WAS a pleasant day...

[Otter]

Then it turned awful. The whole family was in and out of the house all day, working on projects because the weather was nice. I think the longest the goats were alone was 3 minutes. But it was enough. DD came in to use the bathroom, DH went back out with her and took DS (17 months) And next thing I know there is yelling and crying. I run out and DD is running up to the house with DS in her arms and DH is shouting and there is a woman yelling "Oh God shoot him just shoot him." A few more steps and there is DH and our neighbor, both trying to protect Dryna from her large dog who is circling. Her other large dog is standing well back. Our 2 small dogs are trying to fight him off, Scooter is covered in blood. I run for the rifle and by the time I get back with it the dogs have run off. A passerby saw the whole thing and stopped to help and the dogs ran back to the neighbor's yard and keep coming back up the road, trying to work themselves up to come back but DH and the man are keeping them off.

Our poor little Dryna. She has a huge chunk out of her hip and a low nasty rip between her hind legs by her pelvic bone. The vet says it looks like the dog's teeth met the bone and that saved her belly from being ripped open. He says she may always limp but she will live if infection doesn't kill her. He gave me a strong antibiotic and I'll be taking her temp 2x a day and if it goes up he said to come back for a stronger one.

Our poor neighbor is devastated. The dogs were at her side one minute and then going after our goats the next. She is so shaken up - she says she never saw a dog act like that. That the male dog just went after our goat and hit her like a cannon ball. The other dog just ran and barked, but the one was in a frenzy. She was right behind him and tried to beat him off with a stick but he just went around her.

And DH is sick about it. Not only Dryna, but after we had her safe he (with the neighbor's consent) had to go into her yard and shoot it. He took the body and took care of it for her and she thanked him and that just destroyed him.I'm not sure if he shot it or our other neighbor (who came out to help when they heard the commotion) DH is really upset and doesn't want to talk about it so all I know is someone's gun misfired and the other one got a heart shot.

This is so horrible for everyone involved. Please everyone pray for Dryna that she recovers from this.

[Backfourty,MI.]

What a horrible day for everyone is right! I am so sorry for your Dryna, I sure hope infection doesn't set in. Be sure & keep it clean with Betadine too as well as her antibiotics! Your poor dh, you, your kids & that neighbor lady too, I feel bad for all of you.
Thank goodness the other neighbor came out to help. No one likes shooting someone's dog or pet of any kind but sometimes it just has to be done but it sure doesn't make it easy.
Hugs to all of you!!

[nehimama]

What a horrible experience. I'm so sorry. (((hugs)))

[Oat Bucket Farm]

I am so sorry for everyone involved. (((HUGS))) I hope Dryna recovers well and quickly.

[Sonshine]

I'm so sorry all of you had to go through this. Hope Dryna does well.

[ettasmama]

How sad all the way around.

[Wags]

So sorry that everyone involved went through that!

[Minelson]

What a tragic day for everyone! I sure hope Dryna is going to be ok. Just all sounds horrible. Hugs to you Otter. I'm sorry you all had to go through this

[copperpennykids]

If your vet will give you banamine, give her 1cc/100lbs. of her body weight. You can split the dose into an AM/PM shot, so she is getting some pain meds all of the time. goats don't handle pain well, plus the banamine will help with some of the swelling.

Penicillin is excellent for wounds. You can even apply it topically to the wounds (If she were mine, I would do this for 2-3 days at least). Just pull into the syringe, remove the needle and squirt it into the wounds. Also shaving around the wounds (a people type hair cutter/buzzer will work.) helps keep them clean and easier to work around.

Penicillin for goats is given 3cc/100 lbs.

Very sorry to hear about what happened. Thank God DD ran with DS right away - just curious, what kind of dog was the attacker?

[southerngurl]

Oh I'm so sorry! I do hope she pulls through!

Garlic is an excellent broad spectrum antibiotic.

[KimM]

Prayers for little Dryna and all involved.

[DamnearaFarm]

Oh, Otter! What a horrible, horrible day for everyone. I hope Dryna heals well.

[Mulish]

I am so sorry this happened to your family. I hope your Dryna has a speedy and complete recovery. I'm glad that the neighbor had the good sense to have the threat removed.

I hope your children don't develope a fear of dogs over this. Tell your DH that he did good, and that some times the right thing to do is a very hard thing to do.

[GeorgiaGirl]

Oh my, what a nightmare! Hugs to you and I hope your Dryna recovers fully.

[Otter]

Thank you all.
She is very stiff and sore this morning. She seems more sore then last night. I'm going to ask the vet about the banamine. She is eating though. She whickered and stretched for her grain but didn't want to move her hind legs. She has hay and water where she only has to move her head for them.

The vet gave me a very strong penicillin solution and is having me give her the 100 pound dose even though she's only about 65lbs. I'll try putting some right in the wounds.

I don't think the children will develop a fear of dogs in general, but a fear of chows is pretty likely I'm afraid. He was a big, black chow mix. Dumped on the neighbor. She had finally gotten him to where she could pet him and feed him by hand but still couldn't get a collar on him to keep him tied. She is so upset. The female (a later dump and terrified of people) we didn't shoot because we don't think she'll even come out of the neighbor's yard without the male. And she has 8, 3 day old puppies. I'm going to help the neighbor get a collar on her to keep her tied. She should be easy to feed a tranq to right now.

My poor little Dryna. The vet said that with wounds as deep as she has, there is going to be infection and the best we can do is keep it from being a bad infection and that we won't be able to say for sure she'll pull through for at least 2 weeks. I so hope she makes it. She's really just a pet to us and we love her alot. She adores DS and will let him walk holding on to her, like most babies do with the dog. She goes so slowly and carefully when he does.

I had what-if nightmares all night last night. What if we hadn't gone back out when we did? What if DD had gone back out alone? Or brought DS out to play? She had literally just left them long enough to use the bathroom - what if she'd still been there when he charged? I just keep trying to tell myself it didn't happen and this wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been.

[wintrrwolf]

My prayers are with Dryna, I am sure she will recover with your good care.
When I first read the title I thought ya it was a very pleasant warm day and to have it ripped apart like that ... Big HUGS from us.

[Voodoo-Jones]

My thoughts are with you and Dryna and all of you involved. What a horrible thing to happen. ((Hugs)) to you.

[farmerjohn]

What a traumatic experience to go through. I am sure the approach to the dog was the correct one. Most chows will continue that behavior once started. They are known as a one person dog. Son was given a beautiful reg. blue chow but it was only his dog. If he was there to talk to dog continually you could pet it, if he was not there, you could not even get close to that dog. Things had been fine when the daughters came along for awhile. The dog was gentle with the kids but one day turned on the youngest at 18 months. Child was halfway across the yard from the dog playing in the dirt and the dog charged her, got her lip and bit through it. If son had not seen it I doubt he would have believed it of his beloved chow. Needless to say, dog was shot. I ahve heard and tlaked to people that chows are difficult. DH did the right thing as you cannot take chances around chidren and livestock with a dog. We are having to fence in our property to protect our animals from the neighbors dogs-a pitbull and a bulldog. Owner thinks it is ok for dogs to run loose. Hoping Dryna gets through this. She must also be traumatized.

[thaiblue12]

Poor thing, I am so glad that all of you were close by. I am happy to hear the neighbor did the right thing. I hope if anymore dogs get dumped she takes them straight to the shelter and not keep them.
Hopefully your son is too young to remember this, your poor daughter won't
Being stiffer the day after an injury is common, just like in humans. If he will not give you a pain killer, ask him about over the counter products. Good Luck, hopefully she will recover just fine.

[The Tin Mom]

Oh, how awful!

Your family is in our prayers. Especially your dd.

I am glad the dog didn't go after your children - but I know our goats are like our children, too!!!

Blessings!!