Staffordshire Terriers

For the past week I have been dog sitting 2 Staffordshire Terriers. Twice a day at 8 AM and 5 PM I have gone over to the house and fed them, walked them and just made sure everything was alright. They are wonderful friendly dogs who are thrilled to see me, mostly because of the walk that I take them on. The one issue with them is they go crazy if other dogs come near and have to be restrained. When approaching other folks walking their dogs I warned them of the anti social behaviour of the 2 dogs and did my best to stay as far away as I could. I started to warn the dogs as well by a good yank on the leash the second their attention veered towards any other dogs. This seemed to work well and they paid less and less attention to other dogs.

Before stitches

On my last day I even wrote a report for the owners on how good the dogs had been. Sadly I jumped the gun, tempted the fates you might say. I was 300 yards from finishing the last walk when a small (10 lbs) dog came running out from its backyard, saw the 2 terriers and made a full speed dash towards them. I held them firm but the little guy was acting aggresively and the male got a hold of it and the insanity began. Because I had two dogs it was impossible for me to grab the one and help the small dog without the female going for the poor little thing. Before I knew it I was on my knees fighting to free the struggling dog. I punched and kicked the male to get it to release the little guy only to have the female take over and attack it. At some point while on my knees I looked down to see the little guy fighting for her life by biting down on the meaty part of the base of my thumb, not knowing that I was trying to help. Funny though, I could see its teeth bared and digging into my hand but at no time did I notice any pain. It must be that so much adrenaline was pumping into my system that I simply felt nothing. I finally freed the little guy and the owner of her scooped her up, actually thanked me and ran back to the house. There was a child crying. I got up, bloodied, muddied and stuck with burrs, and walked the terriers home. They were completely calm as if nothing at all had happened.

After

There is no doubt about one thing, I was in a state of shock after it all. It was the most insane 30-45-60? seconds of my life. Both my hands hurt and were bleeding and filthy so I covered them in plastic gloves so as not to mess up the car and headed to the hospital. In the end I only had a few puncture holes and a scar on my thumb that I have had for 50 years was ripped open and took 4 stitches to close. A puncture hole took another stitch. I have to get some antibiotics as well today due to the risk of infection from dog bites.
The little guy is at the vet now having surgery and I hope it will be OK. I guess it had no idea that challenging a pair of Staffordshire Terriers wasn't a good idea but it may now.

Singer and Bella