Last night Doug and I took the girls to the dog park. We take them once a day and depending on DOugs work schedule will dictate if we take them in the morning or evening. When we first arrived no one else was there. WHich for Luna is kind of boring. She prefers to have a play mate to race around with since all Sheena wants to do is fetch sticks in the water. After about 10 minutes a man showed up with a golden retriever/great pyrense cross. It was just over a year old and Luna and this dog hit it right off. Wrestling and chasing each other around through the water and sand. THis went on for about 15 minutes as it's owners and us chatted for a while and laughed over their antics.
Then a group of 3 people showed up with a long haired chi and a Jack Russel. Luna, Sheena and the golden cross were all together at the edge of the water and the Jack came racing up to them snarling. Luna sniffed at it and then went back to playing with the golden who also ignored the Jack along with Sheena. The owners said and did nothing. Doug was on the bank throwing sticks for Sheena into the water. Several times the Jack came over and snarled at Sheena when she would drop the stick at Dougs feet. Sheena ignored him even when he would grab the stick and race off. This went on for about 10 minutes. Luna and the Golden were busy playing together.
Then the golden went off with his owner and Luna went to fetching sticks with Sheena. Luna had just brought Doug the stick and Sheena was already in the middle of the river waiting for Doug to throw it. Doug reached down to pick up the stick and all of a sudden here comes the Jack. Doug thought he was going to attack him to get the stick so he picked up the stick quick. But the Jack had no interest in the stick. He was heading straight at Luna and attacked her full on. At first she was shocked and so was Doug. She fell back a few feet as the Jack was jumping all over her snapping and snarling at her. Then he bit her neck and Luna used her weight and tossed him off and threw him to the ground. She then snarled and snapped right back. She never once bit him. I told Doug to stamp his foot at them and clap his hands and shout "Enough". Luna knows what this command means. As soon as he did Luna sat down and looked at him. I was so proud of her for listening. The Jack was still in shock from being tossed and held down. He stayed on his side for about 5 seconds and then jumped up and went back to swimming near his owners. Not once did his people say anything to us during this whole exchange. Not once did they make a move to get their dog when the fight happened.
2 minutes later they went up the path and we stayed. I was a little worried that Luna with her previous fear issues might now react to other dogs. I had nothing to worry about. The golden mix came back and they resumed playing with no issues. More dogs arrived and she played with them. The Jack did come back up the path after a while and gave Luna a wide berth. Luna ignored him completely.
All in all I hate the fact the fight happened, and I hate the fact that the Jacks owners just ignored it and never once did a thing. But I have to say I am very proud of Luna. There was not a mark on her, she didn't hurt the Jack and she still listened when told too. And she still played great with other dogs. The fight only laster about 45 seconds or a minute.
We have been going there for about 2 weeks now and this is the first dog we have met that was like this. Most others who bring their dogs are very responsible. Which we are thankful for. All in all it worked out and the girls still had fun.
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