It's gotten worse...

[happiday]

 Thank you, everyone for your support during this horrible time.     
Ok, so I thought things were bad this afternoon, but now I can't even think straight.  I wonder about the IQ of some AC officers, but that's another topic.
Mike called the police dept. to talk to the officer that took the incident report from our neighbor.  AC had misunderstood the officer on the radio, and they have been looking for a stray black lab, right?  Mike asked him about that and there is no stray black lab.  The police said the neighbor pointed out a tan lab(?), and then he followed it back through our fence.  They now think that our Grace (tan golden retriever) is the dog that started the fight with the Shih Tzu.  So, now Timber is gone and we are faced with the possibility of having Grace branded a viscious dog and all that goes along with that: kenneling, muzzling, criminal liability if she gets out of the yard, etc.  My daughter is heartbroken; Grace has been her dog for 6 years and we don't see how Grace could just flip like that.  She and Timber have always played hard together, and Timber was starting to try to be alpha.  The neighbor lady is elderly, and I know she's very upset by all this, so perhaps she misunderstood the severity of their fighting and the little dog got caught in the crossfire. I'm grasping at anything.  I just don't know.  It's all so awful.  We have no idea what will happen tomorrow.  The officer said he may not come by to make a positive ID of the dog.  None of us heard anything or saw anything take place, so we have no defense.  It's all in the hands of the police and the neighbor.  So we pray, and we wait, and hope that the situation doesn't get worse.  Thanks, BPO, for your love and support.  I appreciate you all.
Have any of you had anything similar happen?  I feel so alone right now, like I'm the bad dog mom that can't control my animals.  I just can't believe that this is how my day went.  Can I have a do-over, please?

[Anakalia]

I'm so sorry you're having to deal with all this!    I'm really hoping Grace wasn't involved.  I don't know if you consider my situation similar, but we did have to put our Maltese to sleep.  We tried so hard to deal with his issues but he bit me and my daughter (on her face) and we really had no other choice, the humane societies and rescues in our area couldn't help since he'd shown aggression.  It's so hard to make that kind of decision.  I'll be keeping you and your family in my thoughts.

[2Criminals]

Do you think it was Grace who did it? If so I think unfortunately you have a responsibility to do something about it, whether that means confining her so that she is never off leash again, a muzzle...Not something I would want to do but if it's possible that she did start the attack then you may want to keep her away from smaller animals. If it were my pet I would raise into question the reliability of the elderly woman's ability to say exactly what happend (some may disagree with me), if perhaps it was a dog fight between your two dogs that escalated and involved the neighbours dog or the possibility that the smaller dog started a fight (it happens!!) and timber finished it but Grace never bit?? It sounds like nobody really knows and i would be unwilling to lose another dog with so many unknowns. Its a tragedy that a dog was killed, horrible that your husky was euthanized and I think you sound like you've taken responsibility for it. If she says lab and Grace is a golden, i would personally fight for my dog. Then the responsibility is yours to never leave her unattended even in your own backyard for her safety and others.

[GoldenPyrs]

Oh my goodness, I don't know what to say except that I'm so, so sorry!!!    

[zchic]

I bet the little ankle bitter started the whole thing....I have 2 little dogs, and the have a nepolian complex. It also seemed like every time I took my well behaved danes for a walk when we lived in town, someones little dog(s) would run out nipping them on the legs. Once it was 4 tiny pomeranians attacking my Thorn. I told the people he is on a leash and if he chooses to bite them back it was their fault.
 also 2 weeks ago our min -pin got out and ran 3 properties down, I don't know what happened, but the peoples GS ripped a hole in her leg, I didn't do anything of corse because she was out of our property. I just took her in and got her stitched up.
I would be asking some serious questions if they come back...heck, tell them you saw a yellow lab in the front yard today but it ran when you opened your door....There are to many inconsistencie s for them to keep this up

[k2campbell]

Wow. It sounds like a lot of the people involved on this one are confused as to what happened. Ugh! I'd be a total mess right now having to deal with all of this!

Not intending to be rude towards your neighbour, but is she SURE of what she saw? Seems as though her story is changing...not doubting her seeing ability (but) she needs to get her story straight too...

I truly hope everything works out in the end, and that Grace is safe. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family - hang in there!

[Ali]

Right, that was my thought - the "girls" had been let back inside. If it were me, that would certainly be my story to animal control. Your husky got out, you had to go to work, you let your girl dogs IN, and left the house. End of story. It wasn't your tan dog. What a terrible nightmare. I'm so sorry that you have to deal with all this. Good luck to you...hang in there.

[happiday]

Do you think it was Grace who did it?

No, I don't.  And here's why I think that:  We have had Grace for almost 6 years.  She was 4 months old when we got her.  I KNOW her temperament.  She'd a PAIN in the butt when anyone comes to the house.  She barks, she defends her house, she especially protects her girl, my 16 y.o. daughter.
We have cats, birds, fish, hamsters, the whole time we have had Grace.  She is NOT small animal agressive.  She's had plenty of opportunities to show us if she were.  Stray small paws have come in to our yard many times, up to the front screen and she barks at them to let them know it's her house, 'hey, mom, someone's here'  and then she starts waggin' and wantin to play with them.  I had not had the opportunity to really assess Timber's temperament, we had only had him for 2 months.  However, in that time he attacked our PhatCat twice, to the point of coming up with fur in his mouth, and chasing our other cat every chance he got.  He was many times stronger than Grace, and he hadn't bonded very well with us.  He still had that wild look in his eyes, unsettled.   Well, I truly believe Grace came out of the fence first, barking her usual "You are too close to my home, BACK OFF!"  Then Timber heard the ruckus and joined in.  That's when the trajedy happened.  He didn't know when to stop.  He got aggressive one day last week with Annie while she was napping on the patio.  I tried to break it up, but he was serious, not playing as he has before.  I don't believe Grace killed the neighbor's dog.  We are responsible for our animals.  We will do what is needed in this situation, but I'm not willing to give up Grace for a possible misunderstandi ng by the neighbor lady.  She had to be so upset while this was happening. I feel horrible for her loss.  I still don't know what to do about that.   But, having 'slept on it' (with little sleep) I stick by my assessment of Grace's part in this.  I will defend her, and do what I have to to keep the peace around here.

[Duramax]

I'm so sorry.

I agree.  I think some nice but firm questions to the police and Animal Control.  First a black Lab, then a tan Lab.  Now your Golden.  Which was it?  And, who actually saw Timber killing the pet.?  You have been extremely cooperative and responsible in all this.  I don't know, something isn't adding up on the other people's stories.

Good luck.


Tina

i agree and i think that if they start pushing towards confinement or worse for grace that you should confront them about it. so the elderly lady saw the atack right??
do you know this lady or her dog. it sounds like one of two things to me. either they are looking for a quick solution and youre dogs are the quickest. or your neighbor has it out for your dogs for some reason. has she had a problem with your dogs before? one more thing, if this womans dog was killed and grace came home afterwords 'in the event' wouldnt she have had tell-tale blood on her mouth and paws? which she didnt, so it couldnt've been her. by the way are you aware of any other dogs in or around the area that fit the descriptions your neighbor stated?  maybe if you asked around to some supporting people in your area they could point you in the right direction. also keep your eyes open incase grace 'lookalike' shows up. good luck durring this hard time. i do find it hard to believe that a dog with no violent history suddenly doees something vicious unanounced. no you are not a bad dog mom. people for some reason can put lables and lay blame in completely the wrong places.

[happiday]

Thanks, everyone. 
Your support, along with the excellent questions you've asked me, has been truly wonderful and so helpful.  We had a quiet day today.  We stayed in, only took Grace out to potty on a leash, then right back in the house.  We've had no contact from the police, AC or the neighbor.  It was a much better day than yesterday. 

[brigid67]

Wow - That sounds very bad.  I am so sorry you are going through all of that