Physically I'm Healing Mentally I'm Not

Combined with great weather, warm enough to spend time outside, and my hand healing with no problems so far ... things are good. Sad but good. I realized Sunday morning I must have been in shock Saturday night and possibly the reason that the officer said I was the calmest person of his three dog bite calls that night. Since that time I have sorted and analyzed what happened. Why did I call animal control so fast after I walked back inside from the garage? I have second guessed myself on making the call until I remember how he acted towards me and the two control officers. There was a reason they shot him with a tranquilizer.

Monday morning I called animal control to see how Samson was doing. Did he attack those trying to feed him? Did he have any more episodes of vicious barking and attacking inside his kennel? For all dogs in quarantine they have a "no touch" process to feed the dogs. The dogs have no contact with people or other dogs, they are in quarantine. She said "he has just been sitting there". 

She was the one feeding him and checking on him. The image of him sitting there so confused, and that sad bloodhound look crushes me with sadness every time I think about him. That image of him in my head and the vicious attack from Saturday night go back and forth in my head most of the time. Even time spent laying back on the patio chair facing the sunshine and closing my eyes ... the hot sun feels great but those two images don't go away.

I will admit that for the third early morning around here, things are too quiet. There is no playing inside with two big hounds. Henry and Watson so far, do not play running in the house chasing each other like they did before Samson showed up. They have played in the yard but not nearly as much as before. That will change I think over time.

Walter is just Walter. Even keel, checking each of us by sniffing us to see if we are here and okay. His routine hasn't changed as he barks at himself in the morning as he imagines fighting off the other hounds, trying to get Watson and Henry to play with him.

The second owner and the guy that brought me Samson started talking after I asked him for Samson's rabies shot records and a photo of his rabies tag. He too had been thinking and had a lot of questions. I told him I had seen Samson's first owner on Facebook one time when the breeder asked all of us to submit photos for their album on Facebook. I saw him again in a Facebook search a few days ago too when I was looking for any puppy photos of Samson that I could add this his photo folder that I have here on my computer in Apple's Photo program.

Yesterday I sent the first owner a private message in Facebook, asking him if he had ever seen this type of aggression and what was the cause of Samson nipping at his kids and biting him. That was what I was told happened to them before I chose to get Samson. Since we are not on each other's Facebook Friends list, I did not expect an answer.

But I did get a message back. That led to a discussion up through last night. Not a solid discussion but one reply to another whenever we had logged into Facebook. Comparing everything I was told before and after I got Samson, the stories were not adding up. The only information that was totally accurate based on my experience was what the second owner told me they day he brought Samson over. He was totally transparent even letting me know that for some reason, at times, the switch would flip and Samson would be crazy aggressive. We talked for two hours on the phone the day before he drove over to deliver him.

After talking to the first owner, my assumption based on what I was told by the breeders assistant, was incorrect. He had not abused the dog in anyway. Samson had not shown this level of aggressiveness at anytime in the 19 months that he had him. He sent me a screenshot of the text he sent the breeder the very first time asking the breeder if he wanted Samson (Enoch) back because he was needing to be re-homed.

He also told me that he requested that the bloodhound not be adopted out to a family with kids. Samson had bitten one of his kids and snapped at two others. I was told something different before I chose to take him. When I relayed that story to the second owner, who had a two year old and a 6 month old ... his question was "what did the breeder adopt him out to me when he knew I had young kids" ??

A confusing but a very valid question.

The more I heard from the first owner, combined with the information the second owner gave me ... the biggest mystery was how did Samson get to this point of being a big aggressive hound that literally attacked me ???

I heard "he did get very aggressive and defensive when he had something he knew he shouldn't have". Or "he got aggressive when we tried to take a towel and sock away from him". Aggressive but not attacking. All of them were shocked that he attacked me out of nowhere, as I was just about to walk through a corner of that dark living room. A couple of times Saturday night I was asked what did I do to provoke him. 

Does that look like a sad bloodhound to you? Sometimes a camera will catch what the human eye does not.

It is a state requirement by the Health Department to quarantine any dog that bites someone and that bite is reported. It is also a state requirement that the dog be put down, no questions asked, after their ten day quarantine IF they have to tranquilize them. Samson signed his own warrant when he refused to let the officer(s) take him ... instead he attacked both of them from inside the crate. Believe me ... if you would have seen him attacking me or the way he acted inside the crate vs those two officers ... you would not recognize him as the happy go lucky, laidback clumsy bloodhound.

As you have seen in the photos, taken Sunday and Monday, there is not the same level of high activity since Samson left. I will say when it comes to my sadness, it is a different kind compared to having to put an older hound down because they were sick or in pain. Yet it is a deep sadness even after living with him for only ten days. I remember all the little things he did around the house, how he would sleep under my computer desk blocking my feet and making it hard for me to get up out of the chair.

Or how he would not mind while he was eating to have Watson walk into the room and pick the pieces of kibble on the floor around his food bowl that had fallen out of Samson's jowls while he was eating. Or how he would let Walter tuck his face/nose into Samson's side while they took their afternoon nap the floor. 

With no answers for the question "why" from four different people including myself, the only assumption I can make is, it was something mental with him. I was told no other puppies in that litter had/has this problem. It is a big sad mystery for a great bloodhound.

As you see the hounds and the dog still like sleeping in the sunshine every morning after a couple of trips outside. I was able to walk Henry and Watson yesterday, using my left hand holding the leash and my right hand guiding the extra length when needed. That was opposite from the norm. I have been trying to keep my right hand elevated as much as possible. Yesterday afternoon though I made a mistake and my hand was never as swollen as it was last night when I got home.

I was visiting my friend up the street while he worked in the backyard. I stood there talking for an hour or so. I didn't elevate my right hand during that time and actually forgot about it enough to follow old habits by sliding my hands into my pants pockets, bandage and all.

No concern though as I put my hand inside a zip lock bag and held it in ice water, yes with ice cubes in the water, for five minutes on two different times. This morning my hand has never felt better. I have full flexibility making a fist without any kind of pain. I have a process I follow to clean the wound. At night I apply a thin piece of gauze to protect it. 

Yesterday using a book as an example for a puncture injury, my old friend described the healing process and/or why it gets infected after the wound closes too fast. He opened a book then closed only the edge of the book leaving the center open ... just like a deep puncture. From pictures my distant friend sees and my friends up the street looking at it in person ... they all say it is healing nicely. I think it looks really good compared to Saturday night.

The yard has recovered nicely since the flooding as it always does. In fact yesterday I swear I could see green grass where I didn't before but probably not. Just wishful thinking. Yet those flooded areas did look a lot better as you can see in the background of some of the photos of the hounds and dog.

It is sad not to see two big bloodhounds chasing each other at full speed. At times stumbling and sliding across the patio deck before regaining themselves, standing up and running. It is sad not to hear that loud deep bloodhound bark even inside whenever he wanted a bone or a toy that Henry or Watson had. There is just something about having two big bloodhounds playing and wrestling together.

But ... that will not happen again. I can guarantee that. I am retired from the "rescue" business and any future Facebook messages I see from someone or some bloodhound group that I follow, "needing to" re-home a bloodhound will go on without me asking a question about them. 

I have a great gang of three that get along, have their own routines and growing older at the same time. Walter is now 3 years old already and both hounds have birthdays soon. Watson in April and Henry in June. Life is pretty easy with the hounds and the dog growing out of their puppy stage.

We won't do much different today as we have done the past two days. Should be warm again to sit out in the warm sun around noon, but rain is in the forecast tonight. Why not? My yard has dried out enough now to have another dose of rain and become muddy. It was 61° yesterday and trying to picture snow again sometime before spring was hard to do. But it will/might happen, it's typical Indiana weather.

Not sure what he was looking at because nobody was outside.

When I bought the new tv eight days ago and wanted to make sure that I would not have more bloodhound damage with it setting low on the coffee table in the corner, I not only moved that new tv back on top of the gas fireplace but also rearranged the furniture.

Giving two big bloodhounds room to operate, I slid the end table and love seat over against the wall from just inside the patio door. Watson refuses to acknowledge that is still "his chair" and will not jump up there to sleep. Finally last night after Walter pressed his nose smelling the front of that couch from one end to the other, then glancing up to where he would jump ... HE was the one that finally figured out it was the same couch that he liked sleeping on when it was on the opposite side of the room.

So that is the latest update here in "the tropics". Life is gradually getting back to normal with deep sadness woven in. 

I'll never forget the good times that big 'ol bloodhound brought to the hounds, the dog and myself. If only I could just get away from those dark images that throw me into deep sadness. I am not sure that "over time" will be the solution to that sadness. 

That photo and the sounds of aggressive attack type of barking/growling just don't seem to match when all of us think about it. Yet, my hand reminds me that it did happen and I did do the right thing. It was not only the best for him but it would be protecting anyone he may have encountered in the future if he had been re-homed again.

Things are quiet here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana ... too quiet.