Last year we offered to dogsit for a friend (8 weeks while he did an assignment in China) and got a little (needy) beagle, Bob, and a huge (teddy bear) Rottie named Attie, which is short for Attila. Everything was great except for one issue. Buddy. He is extremely jealous and does not get along well with dogs bigger than him. He likes to be the Alpha and he wants everyone to know. As you might imagine, Attie was not going to put up with that. He was actually a lot more patient with Buddy than I thought he should need to be.
So, as you can see, the Biggs household was divided to keep the two of them apart. There was actually another gate at the hallway so the two of them couldn't even see each other while they were both in the house.
One morning John decided that it was okay to have them in the backyard together because for the most part Buddy will pester Attie and then run. Being much faster Attie will give chase but can't catch Buddy. Unfortunately, Buddy decided after some time that he was bigger than he is and went after Attie full force and bit at him twice before Attie decided to lay down the law. Attie had him pinned to the ground in 2 seconds and the fight was on. John ended up on the ground in the wet grass (keep in mind John has the ritual of getting ready for work and then going out for some gardening before heading to work every morning) between the two dogs holding them by their collars to keep them apart, his fingers pinched in Buddy's choke chain.
Not knowing what to do to get Buddy into the house without letting go of Attie who was pretty well irate by this time and ready to have another go at Buddy, he started yelling (or is screaming a better word?) for Rosie, who was in the house with Everett to come out and grab Buddy. After some time she made her way out with Everett and then had to go back in to ensure his safety and then come back out and grab Buddy by the collar and take him in.
Great Fun!
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| Attie & Bob |
We're not sure where the misunderstanding arose but apparently when our friend came back from China he didn't really get in a hurry to get his dogs back. Later we found out that his daughter is very allergic to dogs and he was hoping that we would keep the dogs. Even had we understood we wouldn't have been able to keep them though we both liked both dogs we really fell in love with Attie. He was a great dog and very well behaved; though he shed fur like no other. John would go out back daily when he got home from work and Attie would sit in front of him and let him brush him for 20-30 minutes. Attie loved the ritual of the brush. It was only later that we found out that our friend gave the dogs away.
Interestingly, 2 weeks after the dogsitting experience and just prior to finding out that they had been given away, John was at work and saw this Jeep (notice the license plate). It made him pine a little for the big ol' teddy bear.
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