Poor Jazz

It's been a few days since I wrote a Post on the blog, but it seems like it's been weeks.  So here's an update on what happened.....

Of course Greg safely returned from Italy on Monday and Teresa and Judy safely returned to Atlanta on Tuesday.  All was going well until late Tuesday afternoon.....

We had walked the dogs and were heading  back to the marina when we saw a young woman with two dogs, one a little toy-mix and the other a pit bull (mix).  They were about 20-30 feet off the walkway back against the trees.  We were on the walkway.  The pit bull started barking and Oscar barked back, but then the pit bull lunged and broke away from the woman walking him, his leash still attached.  He went straight for Jazz and chomped down on her backside and would not let go, shaking her.  Greg kicked him and then hit him hard with his fist and he finally let go, but then he immediately turned on Oscar.  Fortunately for Oscar, he bit into fur and harness and did not hurt him.  The woman finally got a hold of the leash and pulled him off and away.  We inspected Jazz carefully and found several puncture wounds and abrasions.

Keeping the dogs well apart, everyone finally calmed down enough to exchange information.  The attacking dog belonged to the woman's boyfriend.  We went to the marina office and reported the incident and they immediately called Dade County Animal Control and got a Case File opened.  Then they called a cab for us to take Jazz to the Animal Hospital.  We were there for hours and finally had to leave before we knew for sure what was going to happen with her, except we knew she would have to have surgery.  There were a number of emergency cases coming in that night, so animals were seen in order of worse case....Jazz was stable, so she had to wait until the surgeon had a chance to work on her.

We picked her up yesterday afternoon around 2:30 and she looked just horrible.  Two drain tubes to keep swelling down...stitches everywhere and bloody ooze.  So sad.  She's being kept calm and somewhat sedated by the pain pills.  She has a lot of work to do to heal.

Greg met with the attacking dog's owner this morning.  He of course wants to pay for everything, but when Greg asked about his dog, he just said that "nothing like this has ever happened before".  Greg said he should have the dog put down before he attacks another dog, or a child and he said that "he could control the dog".  However, we plan to continue pushing through Animal Control.  We both feel that the dog should be destroyed.  What this dog did to Jazz...a totally unprovoked and deliberate attack......makes us believe he should never be in a position to attack again.