[crissytr]

I need some opinions....
I am Furious and Confused. We were at my mother's house on Christmas Day and had just finished eating when we all went outside to relax. I have a 14 month old female pom that is more spoiled than my kids. She was there with us of course. Anyways my son was playing with his new remote control car and Isabella was going pee in the grass about 6 inches from the driveway and my son. My sister and I were about 4 feet away as well as other family members out there. All of the sudden one of the dogs that live about 2 blocks away came into the yard and tried to mount my pom. Yes she was in heat & I understand that, but she was on private property with all of us right there. Anyways it was a very large dog probably about 100 lbs and when he tried to jump on her he hurt her and she took of screaming under my car. The reason I mentioned where we were all at is because it happened so fast no one could do anything about it. Anyways, she now has a completley dislocated hip, her hip bone is about 2 inches above her pelvic bone and the vet said she also has a torn ligament and blood vessel. She is having to have surgery today to correct it. Not to mention on top of the surgery cost we had to pay $300 to take her to the ER christmas Day where they gave her pain meds until she could see her vet first thing in the morning. The reason I am so mad is because I feel the owner of the other dog should be notified about what happened and maybe they will do the right thing and offer to pay half of her vet bills. The vet said her hip will heal but it is 6wks of recovery and it is possible that she will always have promblems with that hip now not to mention arthritis later on. I also must mention I have 4 other large dogs and everyone of my animals are fixed but I chose to not fix her yet, we have had a lot of offers from male poms about possible breeding in the future. I do not think we will ever breed her because there are to many that already need a home but I still do not want to fix her just yet. Anyways because it is my moms neighborhood I do not want to cause any promblems so I told her I feel she should let her neighbors know and she says there is no reason to. Her Response was that it is natural and if she would have been fixed this would have never happened but I feel had the dog been on his own property this would have never happened. My pom was not running through the yard, walking down the street or anything she was right there on our property right by the house. I also must mention that in East Bernard where my mom lives ther are no leash laws. But I feel just because there are no leash laws it does not mean owners do not have to take responsibility for their pets. The only reason we took her out was so she could go to the bathroom and my mom has 2 other big male dogs in her backyard so we could not let her out in the back. Also I need to mention that it is a country town and although it is in a neighborhood it is not a typical neighborhood and my mom's house sits on 1 acre. Any opiions would be greatly appreciated on what I should do or how you would feel and handle the situation. Sorry this is so long but I wanted to make sure and include all the details. Thanks in advance for all your time.

[CMR]

We live out in the country as well. Unfortunately people outside of the city tend to just turn their dogs loose, so really all you can do is make sure that your dog is not loose from you. I personally would never let my small dog off a leash when outside. Out here everyone owns hog dogs and other hunting dogs that are all out wandering free and they would probably look upon a small dog as prey.
If you could find the owner of the other dog you could try telling him about the incident, but I wouldn't expect a very positive response. I would suggest that the guy consider neutering his dog, but probably the guy is just going to tell you that that's your own problem and get off his property. I am almost 100% sure that he won't offer to help with your vet bills. I know that out here everyone is a jerk about their loose dogs and just find everything they do funny.
I'm sorry that your dog was injured. I hope that she recovers completely. I think that you should spay your dog and please keep her on a leash close to you when you take her out on potty breaks so that if anything else ever happens you'll be right there to stop the event before it happens.