Sad Day

About 24 hours ago, one of our family members died. It was our dog, Shorty.

(in October 2012 after we'd just gotten him)

 

 (in May 2013, one of his last photographs)

We'd had him for 8 months, and we'd all grown to love him. Even me: the dog-hater (due to traumatic events that happened to me with dogs in my childhood). It was our first experience with ever owning a dog, and it all ended so tragically. In fact, it all happened so fast, it's still unbelievable that he is gone.

It was Edward's birthday (my father-in-law). They live just across the ditch from us, and we were going to have an outdoor family BBQ for him. Shorty was still learning his boundaries, and he hadn't yet mastered being at outdoor family meals without jumping up to eat and snatching food, so Josh put Shorty in the kennel he'd just purchased and finished putting together the night before. It was a 10x12 chain-link, metal kennel that Josh put in a shaded area by where we park our trailers, so it would be far away from the backyard where we eat and where the kids play. Shorty doesn't like being tied up--he'd already broken 2 of our reinforced leashes, so we wanted him to be in an area that was far away from us when we were entertaining outdoors. Shorty always howls and moans and whines non-stop when he's tied up, and it's hard for us to hear, which is another reason why we put the kennel in a spot that was further away, so we didn't have to hear him as loud.

In the middle of dinner, Shorty showed up. He'd bitten through the metal fence until he created a hole big enough for him to get out. We were shocked. Jonah took him back up to our house, and tied him up by the swingset, where we listened to him howl the rest of the meal. Kanyon took a plate full of steak bones to him, to help him feel better, but he didn't care about the meat or bones, he just wanted to be near us.

(these photos were taken after dinner--about 10 minutes before the incident)

After dinner was over, Edward opened his gifts, and then we had dessert. When we were all done eating, the boys went up and let Shorty loose again. He immediately ran down to where we were. Uncle Tim gave Shorty his leftover steak bone, and Shorty ran under the table where the dishes were and started chewing it. (You can see the table in the photo above--between where we were sitting & Grandma's van). I called the boys over and the 3 older boys started carrying the dishes and food pans on that table back inside Grandma's house. Instead of helping, Kanyon decided to lay on the ground by that table and he watched Shorty eat his bone. He was giggling and laughing at Shorty because he was chewing on it with such ferociousness. Shorty had started becoming territorial with his food, and he must've felt like Kanyon was a threat, so he sneered at Kanyon once. Shorty has sneered at us like that before when we has had certain foods, so we know to not grab at or take away the food from him when he's like that. After the dog sneered at him, Kanyon turned his head to look at the boys going into Grandma's house, and Shorty lunged forward right then and took two bites in Kanyon's face.

Kanyon fell backward and started screaming. Josh and I were still at the dinner table, and thought he'd just been scared. Uncle Tim was standing by him, and calmly said "Um, it's pretty bad". Josh ran to Kanyon, where blood was covering the lower half of his face. Josh could see distinct bite marks, and blood was running out of all of them. He picked up Kanyon and rushed him up to our house. The dog ran under our table and was sitting by my feet. I slapped his butt 4 times, and told him to get out, but he wouldn't. So then I grabbed the dog by the collar, lifted him out from under the table and into the air, kicked his butt, and screamed at him to go away. He ran off, and I went up to the house to help take care of Kanyon.

Kanyon was laying down on the couch and had blood all over his cheek, nose, and mouth. It was difficult for me to see where the blood was coming from exactly. Josh took a cold wash cloth, and began cleaning up all the blood. He grabbed a few ice packs, told me to apply them to Kanyon's mouth and cheek, and then he said he was going to kill Shorty. Kanyon was uncontrollably howling and sobbing and was in a lot of pain. I gave him some ibuprofen, and began applying the cold packs where his face was already swelling.

Josh went out the front door, just as the 3 older boys entered through our back door. I told them all to stay inside because Dad was going to kill Shorty. Jonah went straight to his room. Ammon screamed at me before going to his room. Micah stood by the glass door, looking outside, and he said "Dad has a pistol" before he went to his room.

As I was washing the blood from Kanyon's face, I discovered every entry wound he had: the longest gash was on the left cheek near his ear, the deepest gash was right under the right nostril of his nose, the most painful gash was under the right side of his bottom lip--it had gone clear through into his mouth, and the last gash was actually INSIDE his mouth on the left side of his bottom lip.

I didn't understand how there were marks on his face in different spots like that. I later learned from Kanyon and Josh, who'd seen it happen from where we were sitting, that Shorty bit Kanyon first near the ear because that's the angle that was closest to the dog when Kanyon's head was facing away as he looked at his brothers. Then in an instant, Kanyon turned back towards Shorty, and Shorty bit him again in the nose and mouth. There are teeth-grazing marks all along his left cheek that were between Shorty's two bites.

I took these photos after Kanyon had calmed down--you can see the first (and longest) bite mark near his ear, and the teeth-grazing marks along his cheek here:

 

The 2nd bite, and deepest one is mostly visible here. The wound that bled for 6 hours is right under Kanyon's nostril. Beneath his lip is the tooth mark that went all the way through his lip.

 

The exit wound for that under-lip bite mark is inside the mouth on the left side towards the middle of his lip (it's hard to see here--but there's a bump that is visible in this photo). The last bite mark is on the right side of his inner lip (the white part that's visible here). His mouth was open when Shorty bit him the 2nd time.

Josh returned back to our house minutes later, and reported that the job was done, and that Shorty would never hurt Kanyon again. Josh had found Shorty back under the dishes table, still chewing on the bone. He carried him away from our house behind Grandpa's shop, where the boys wouldn't hear the gun shots or see him being killed. It was difficult and emotional for him, to carry the dog through its final moments of life.

After he completed the task, and came inside, he asked all the boys to come out of their rooms, and he gently talked to them about what had happened. He explained that he knew what they were feeling, because he'd experienced what they were going through when he was a boy and a dog he loved was shot by his dad, too. He told the boys that this was necessary--that we couldn't keep a dog who bit the children who loved it and took care of it. He told them that he would always choose his children over a dog, and that we couldn't keep it as part of our family anymore after it so purposefully attacked Kanyon. He spoke to them about what would happen if the dog had bitten a friend's child, and having to pay for emotional and physical damages, or that if this had happened in city limits, the dog would have to be taken away and killed. He talked about their feelings and that he was sorry that it had to happen and that it wasn't Kanyon's fault. It was a very sensitive family meeting.

Shorty was a good dog, and we'd all loved him. We already miss him. We miss hearing the sound of his collar ringing as he walked around the yard. We miss seeing him run up to us when we came home. We miss watching him chase the butterflies and bees in the yard. We miss having him follow us around on our 4-wheelers and motorcycles. We miss his companionship, and the way he guarded our yard and chased off the deer, skunks, and raccoons. We miss not having him roll over to be petted constantly. It's very sad to know that Shorty, who's been a part of this family for 8 months, is now gone.

But, we also know that we couldn't have kept him any longer. We wouldn't be able to trust him, and we would always be afraid of having him around our children and others. We don't want our children growing up to be afraid of dogs, like I was. We are so grateful that Kanyon's wounds aren't worse. We are so blessed that his beautiful, precious face is not disfigured. We weren't willing to take the risk of having that happen by keeping the dog. But because we all loved Shorty so much, it made it that much harder to put him down for good.

Today, we woke up without a dog. Today, Kanyon can't eat because his bottom lip is so swollen, and it still hurts him. Today, I have been crying and grieving. Today, the boys are processing their feelings and speaking about their emotions. Today, Josh is trying to heal, and he is already thinking and talking about getting another dog.