There are some moments when, as a dog guardian, I fail spectacularly. Our little dogs, no matter how smart, how well-trained, how reliable, are still dogs. And it’s our responsibility, as the humans in their lives who expect them to conform to our silly human rules, to safeguard our pups.
Today we experienced one of those moments, one of those moments when I should have known better. One of those moments when I should have reacted in my human way instead of trusting Lucas to react in a non-dog way.
Today, a horse kicked my Lucas.
Gah, the guilt, omg, the guilt. A local trainer invited Emmett and Lucas, among a few other dogs, to spend the morning running around her farm. How could we pass up five glorious acres of running space for the boys to play and socialize and work on attentiveness and recall in the process? Those five fenced-in acres turned out to be five mostly-fenced-in acres. There was one hole. One tiny little hole where the fence crossed a creek bed. And, of course, Lucas discovered the hole and scooted himself underneath while we people stood chatting several acres away.
On the other side of that fence was a horse, tucked away into her safe space, a one-acre area with a small barn for her to avoid the dogs. For an instant, nothing happened. Lucas sniffed the horse. The horse stood still, tolerating this invasion to her privacy. Then Lucas turned playful. He jumped around the horse. He play-bowed. He ran right in front of the horse, nose-bopping and nudging her.
And that was the moment we failed him.
Instead of mobilizing, instead of running across the field, instead of calling him… we froze. All three people standing in the paddock froze. The horse did not freeze. She ran to hide behind the barn, and Lucas chased! Fun game! he clearly thought, his tail wagging, his tongue hanging out.
John started to scale the fence, leash in hand, ready to grab him, when from the other side of the barn, Lucas yelped a loud, painful yelp. He limped around the barn, and John got the leash on him. He bit his tongue; blood pooled around his mouth. His eye was red and puffy, and he hung his head, tail down, thinking he was in big trouble.
Thankfully, about two minutes later he was running with the other dogs, playing, and taking treats. But woah, the guilt. Why didn’t we react? Why didn’t we call him or jump in there faster or do anything? We just stood there watching? The trainer, in fact, encouraged us to whip out our phone and snap a picture while Lucas sniffed the horse. “A Kodak moment,” she said.
Gah, we all should have known better, and now my baby is hurt. Not badly, luckily. His face is puffy and his eye is red. He has a small cut under his eye, and his limp will go away in a day or two of alternating heating pads and ice bags. Maybe I’ll double his Dasuquin dose tonight.
But my God, my baby got hurt when I should have been more attentive, I should have known better, I should have reacted and protected my guy.
(My guy who, by the way, is now curled up on the sofa, snoring softly, with his belly full of cheese and turkey, his two favorite foods, because plying him with cheese and turkey made me feel slightly better…)
Luckily, our lesson only involved a puffy eye and slight limp, and not a trip to the emergency room…
I hate that you feel that you failed Lucas. In every way possible, I think that you and John are the best dog guardians around. The fact that he is so loving and playful around other dogs, other animals, and humans shows that you in no way have failed your dogs. Please give Lucas a big hug from me and Don and a big ol’ smooch from Cady.
Thanks, Jen! That was so nice of you… I just felt so horrible that we didn’t get there fast enough, but thankfully all is well! His eye should be cleared up in a couple days, and his leg is just bruised. No more farms for these city dogs, though!
How would it have been differently if you weren’t there to witness what happened? You can’t feel bad about what happened, if anything, he’ll never do it again and will be more cautious in new situations in the future, looking to you for guidance. Do you really think he would have come back if you had called him or would he have been having too much fun? How do you think farm dogs learn to stay a healthy distance away from livestock?
We take our city dogs herding and the #1 thing the instructor told us is to never bring the dog’s attention to us as a handler (the reason why herders use their voice, whistles, canes to control the movement of their dog). The moment the dog stops watching the livestock, the handler has failed the dog and puts it in danger of getting trampled, kicked, or making a fatal turn (off a cliff, etc).
I hope your guilt is short lived and that you’re able to reassure yourself that your pooch probably won’t try again 🙂 Glad it wasn’t a serious injury.
Thank you so much for your kind words! You are absolutely right; if I had called him, he probably would not have come! How can I compete with a horse?! I’m so happy and relieved he’s doing ok. His eye is healing, his limp is already gone.
Also, very interesting about not bringing the dog’s attention to the handler. Not something I’ve thought about before, but it does make perfect sense… I think your insights have inspired me to work harder on getting a recall from a whistle!
God shut up, the dog got what it deserved, u weren’t being a bad guardian. The dog now knows not to mess with horses.
My dog.was.kicked in.the face so hard tidY by a horse he was knocked.unconscious. I had purpoaely kept him away from the hunt and.mostly on his lead and unfortunately we.happened.upon two horses.who had separated from.the rest.of.rhe hunt. My dog had his first and hopefully last encounter. He thought they wanted.to play and did not come back.to my whistle command. Too late and he’s lucky to be alive. Lost 3 teeth. He is a failed hunting hound and my recall.training.failed miserably. I am beating myself up. Awful.
I’m so glad to have come across to your blog. My dog, a Border Collie was kicked by a horse a few days ago. Luckily she is ok. I sent her to the vet straight away after she fainted and was in pain but five minutes later she seems ok. Still, I had to make sure and left her at the vet overnight in just case and to ease my mind leaving her in good hands. I felt so guilty. I kept having those flashbacks. I was just like you. I froze when I should have called her back after she thought the horse was playing and she chased him. Bang! It’s all what-ifs and I should-haves guilt. Thought I\’d search online to see if there are any one else feels the same. Oh thank goodness I wasn’t the only one. Thank you for sharing your story online so people like me can read and share. So glad your dog is ok and so is mine. Sending you doggy-hugs