Bad Dog, Wilbur, Bad Dog...

Our new best friend, Wilbur, waiting by the gate

Some of you know that I have never really had a pet before. Yes, I had a hamster in 7^th grade that I disliked and a baby African Grey parrot in 6^th grade that I adored but had to leave after six weeks when my family was evacuated from Congo – but they don’t really count. Now we have a mutt dog, Wilbur, who we are caring for while his owner (the owner of our rental house) is away. He has quickly adopted Jon and I as his own (he doesn’t really have a choice as we are the only ones around) and seems to love us dearly. In the morning he runs around the outside of the house to watch us through the window of whichever room we are in, when we come home in our car he bounds out to put his front paws on the driver’s side window with his tail wagging furiously, and when we are talking inside he will sigh loudly and push his weight against the front door with a bang just to remind us that he is lonely. We have enjoyed taking him for walks and runs as we explore our neighborhood. He is a fun and loving dog (although I’m not accustomed to his smelly breath or dog slobber on my face yet).

On our third day in the house I was on my way home from a meeting and stopped my car at the gate while it finished opening. Wilbur came running from behind the house to say hello. Before I had time to react, he had diverted to the right, run halfway down the block, and started fighting with two other dogs. It took me some time but I was eventually able to pull him away by his collar and get him back in the yard. I slapped his nose and said in my most stern voice, (which, lets face it, probably isn’t very stern – I can sound stern about as well as I can look angry) “Bad dog, Wilbur, bad dog”. It didn’t seem that either Wilbur or the other dogs were hurt so I let it go, resolving that in the future I would look for other dogs before I opened the gate.

Yesterday when I was coming home from having coffee I checked for dogs and then stopped my car at the gate while it finished opening. Again, Wilbur came bounding from the house to say hello and put his front paws on my window for some head pats and kisses. Before I had time to react, Wilbur had jumped down, ran across the street, and started attacking a Motswana couple who were walking by. I ran over trying to grab Wilbur’s collar. The Motswana lady got behind me, using me as a shield, and Wilbur kept trying to bite the man who was swinging a plastic bag of clothes to divert him. Eventually I got the woman in my car while I grabbed Wilbur by the collar, dragging him off into our yard and handed over to Jon. Bad dog, Wilbur, bad dog. It turns out Wilbur actually bit the woman - not a bad bite but she was bleeding. He didn’t bite the man but his bag was ripped to shreds and the winter coat inside had several new holes. While I was looking at the bite on the woman’s leg her employer drove by and demanded to know what had happened and whose dog it was. Still trembling, I explained our situation. We swapped contact information, she said that I needed to talk to the owner to obtain a rabies certificate that could be shown to them, and then took the woman to her house to get cleaned up and attended to. Bad dog, Wilbur, bad dog. In the end I gave the man some money to have his coat mended while apologizing profusely, walked the rabies certificate to our neighbor and apologized profusely, and examined the bite again while apologizing profusely. They seemed very understanding and told me not to worry about it, but this has really scared me and I hope it is the end. Bad dog, Wilbur, bad dog.

(Note: Jon and I have amended our gate opening procedures to include looking for dogs, people, and other open gates. We have not heard from our neighbor yet about her housekeeper but I think we may end up paying for a tetanus shot. We are just thankful they were so gracious and understanding. In parting I even got a smile, wave, and ‘don’t worry’ from the woman who was bitten. I’m thankful not to be reported to the police. We are REALLY hoping nothing else happens or we will need to make some hard decisions on behalf of the owner.)