Pit Bull Attack

Those of you who know my dog, Chester, are aware of what a great dog he is. He's one of the most docile dogs I've met, and he's so well behaved most people like him more than me. When I'm working around town and will be in and out, I generally leave him at home for the day to "guard the house" (that's his job).

About a month ago, I left poor Chester in the house as I do sometimes, and my landlord (the very ingenuitive captain of the grouper boat 'Offshore') came over to retrieve something out of the back bedroom. That room is his storage unit. Anyway, the front door to the cracker box that I live in is kind of quirky, and you have to jiggle the handle or it won't latch. Unfortunately for Chester, the landlord forgot this and didn't latch the door properly. Chester decided to go for a walk. While doing this, he ran into some neighbor dogs who are allowed to run freely. They're pit bull terriers. Two of them. Fortunately for Chester they're still young. I'm guessing them to be a year or a year and a half of age. They tore my dog's right ham up pretty bad; nothing to see but a dozen or so puncture wounds, but they mangled his muscle horribly. There were a few puncture wounds on his face and shoulders, and they nipped off the end of his, well, let's just suffice it to say it hurt him to urinate. He couldn't walk at all; the landlord saw him crawling by his house to go home. When he first saw Chester he didn't recognize him through the blood and the mud, but when he realized what he was seeing he took him to the vet. After a ten day course of antibiotics and pain medication the exterior wounds were closed and healing nicely. Still, after a month, he favors the leg tremendously.

Now that he's healing up it's kind of funny to watch him walk. His name came from Chester on "Gunsmoke" because he was found as an eight or so month old puppy limping around town on a mostly healed left front broken leg and as a result it's considerably shorter than his right one. So now with his permanent front limp and the newly acquired back right limp it's actually kind of comical to watch him romp and play. (he told me it's ok to laugh, now) Bless his heart! And for the record, he's going to be fine.

By the way, in case anyone's wondering, he's a chow mix. I think he's chow, shepherd and heyena.