A True Story

God does not bless us to pull that blessing away. "A gift I give to you not as the world gives"…

It was almost the perfect situation. My neighbor came to my door one afternoon. She told me how a woman had purchased a gift for her daughter. The daughter ended up giving the gift back. The woman and her husband were empty nesters. The woman attempted to keep the gift but, schedules and time being what they are, was not able to keep the gift. My neighbor thought that we would be the perfect place for the gift.

It was all a God thing really. The fact that my neighbor chose to come to my door the fact that we were mourning a loss and the fact that my neighbor knew that we were good people with a lot of love to give. I was reticent. I was hesitant. It didn’t necessarily seem like a good idea to me.

Despite my reservations, I agreed to talk with the woman on the phone. After a couple of telephone conversations, we agreed to meet at a local park. I wanted to meet her and to see the gift that neither her nor her daughter wanted.

Anyway, I finally agreed to accept the gift which required two hundred dollars. For that two hundred dollars I received the gift and numerous accessories that went with it. What was the ‘gift’? A Yorkshire Terrier named Rio. Why would I call him a ‘gift’ if it cost me two hundred dollars? I call him a gift because from the moment he walked into our lives, he was a blessing, a gift and had so much love to give that I can’t even describe it. As I say, it was a God thing from day one.

So when two loose Pitbulls attacked him and I from our ‘neighbors’, I instinctively picked him up and attempted to protect him. The result was that we were both injured and I was knocked backwards to the ground. My wife took him out every morning before going to work. The second attack was just three weeks later, his fur hadn’t even grown back from the first attack. My wife was injured and my dog was gravely injured by three loose Pitbulls this time. We rushed him to an emergency Veterinarian but, his injuries were too great. Under the Vet’s advice, we allowed him to be euthanized. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss him greatly…

The owners had no insurance, no veterinarians, no vaccinations nor records and no remorse for our injuries nor our loss. I had stitches in my hand which were quite painful. It took six months of rehabilitation to ease the pain in my shoulders but, the pain in our heart for our loss will never go away. Because there was no insurance, legal action was not possible. We suffered over $ 20,000.00 in financial losses as well as physical and emotional loss.

One of the things that has sustained me through all of this is my recollection of the scripture which says that vengeance is of the Lord and He WILL repay.

Wow. I don't even know what to say. I'll have to think on that one a bit.

Thanks for sharing. :)

I'm so sorry for your loss.  Poor Rio.   

I hope those pitbulls were taken away and dealt with.  They could potentially attack anything small like children.   I know it's the owners' fault but those dogs are dangerous.   I have 2 friends a similar thing happened to and neither of their beloved dogs survived the attacks.

If I ever get another dog I won't be walking it without a can of pepper spray in hand.

Red Lily wrote:I'm so sorry for your loss.  Poor Rio.   

I hope those pitbulls were taken away and dealt with.  They could potentially attack anything small like children.   I know it's the owners' fault but those dogs are dangerous.   I have 2 friends a similar thing happened to and neither of their beloved dogs survived the attacks.

If I ever get another dog I won't be walking it without a can of pepper spray in hand.

For Pit Bulls, you'll more than likely need a gun.

Wasp spray is better for vicious dogs than pepper spray.....it's called Wasp Gun, because it shoots a stream of spray a good distance, you don't need to be that close.

I'll remember that thanks!

Red Lily wrote:I'm so sorry for your loss.  Poor Rio.   

I hope those pitbulls were taken away and dealt with.  They could potentially attack anything small like children.   I know it's the owners' fault but those dogs are dangerous.   I have 2 friends a similar thing happened to and neither of their beloved dogs survived the attacks.

If I ever get another dog I won't be walking it without a can of pepper spray in hand.

Actually, in the second attack, my wife did have pepper spray. It did no good. She was kicking the Pitbulls as well and the only thing it did was get her bit as well.

Abby08 wrote:

Red Lily wrote:I'm so sorry for your loss.  Poor Rio.   

I hope those pitbulls were taken away and dealt with.  They could potentially attack anything small like children.   I know it's the owners' fault but those dogs are dangerous.   I have 2 friends a similar thing happened to and neither of their beloved dogs survived the attacks.

If I ever get another dog I won't be walking it without a can of pepper spray in hand.

For Pit Bulls, you'll  more than likely  need a gun.

Wasp spray is better  for vicious  dogs than  pepper spray.....it's called Wasp Gun, because it  shoots a stream of spray a good distance,  you don't need to  be that close.

Actually I like the gun idea...

I'm in awe of your composure, RV. I'm so sorry for your loss, and especially under those circumstances. I can't envision anything other than 50 shades of unglued, myself.

OneDumbBlonde wrote:I'm in awe of your composure, RV.  I'm so sorry for your loss, and especially under those circumstances.  I can't envision anything other than 50 shades of unglued, myself.

I appreciate the comment, it’s taken me over a year to get to the place where I‘m not crying every day over the loss. He was a real blessing and I miss him and think about him daily. I’m not sure how composed I am, but it is better than it was.