Hunting and Pecking:An Update

Okay, so here is the story:

I was walking with Lux in the woods Sunday. I went early in the morning to avoid the hellacious heat we are having. It was about 6;30 AM. When I take Lux to the woods I put on her harness, a lightweight one which allows me to clip her leash to her back, rather than her neck, affording me more control and doing less harm to her should I need to yank her back from an oncoming dog. Also, if she is off-leash I can grab her in a tussle, without putting my hand in the danger zone of her head and neck which would be where an attacking dog would be biting. If she falls in the water from the rocks or from the bridge I can grab her and haul her out without strangling her.
Yesterday, I put her hunting bell on her regular collar before we left. This is a medium sized brass bell on a loop which allows me to hear where she is in the woods off-leash. Hunters use them to tell when their hunting dogs are on point. Also, dog walkers use them in the woods during hunting season to scare off the deer, and to alert hunters with guns that it is a dog NOT a deer, so they don't get shot.

So, in my haste yesterday, I clipped Lux's dog tags on her halter NOT her collar. We were walking in the woods off-leash and another dog charged her. Lux is not one to let something go, so I grabbed her but she bolted. Her halter slid through my hand, and the clip on which her tags were attached sliced my finger open about 1 1/2 inches.

The hidden costs of dog ownership.

More later, or tomorrow, when I can actually type better.