A Dog Fight. Day 344.

I’ve had dogs in my life for its entirety, and have seen only two dog fights involving my own pooches until yesterday. They didn’t end with a trip to the emergency vet, though. Last night’s did.

About five years ago, Gisele and Zoeeee got into it twice within about six months of each other. Both times, we believe Gisele had enough. (Zoeeee was high-energy, too.) Wanda is an in-your-face loud barker, very excited and high-energy. She loves to taunt Gisele in a playful way, and usually Gisele ignores her.

Well, yesterday, Wanda was in extra rare form, plowing through the other dogs, barking more aggressively and not playfully, and becoming frustrated when we humans pet another canine. (We were working all day.) Gisele had enough.

(And this is simply our guess of how it started because we only saw it after it was already like something one would see on a National Geographic special.)

They were tangled, hair up, not even hearing us yelling at them. Gisele had Wanda’s ear, and little Sharp Wanda grabbed Gisele’s scruff in the front of her neck and her pointy, new teeth produced a gash that warranted a trip to the emergency vet, eleven staples, and cost close to $700.

Gisele will be OK. She is on meds, will need to have the sutures removed, and has to wear a cone and be separated from anything fun or exciting.

All that aside, I am upset with them. While I was sitting in the waiting room, I took a tour of many emotions, including embarrassment. What could I have done differently? How could I have avoided this for them? This is new territory for me. Then, I became upset with myself.

German Shepherds are known to be aggressive at times, but mine are not. The thing is, when a toy poodle gets into it with a Yorkie, say, it doesn’t seem as horrific because they are tiny, but when larger dogs fight, it is intimidating.

From now on, Wanda will have to be more respectful of her sibs, no more loud barking in their faces, no more corralling them, and we will no longer accept her behavior as simple excitement. We have some work ahead of us, and we will get through this, and in the meantime, we will heal.