I hate irresponsible dog owners. 

Harsh statement?  Yes, but today it’s true.

Ty was outside playing after school today, down the street, playing hide and seek with a friend, standing in the cal-d-sac, when a dog started to chase him, attacked and bit him from behind while he was trying to run away, right in the back of his knee.  A dog that is someones pet, a dog not on a leash or being properly supervised.  Ty, of course was in immediate pain and his friend helped chase the dog away down the street.  Ty started to head home and heard someone outside calling for their dog, but never caught a glimpse of them.

When he got home he was limping a little and my normal hypochondriac (the child once iced a mosquito bite) son casually says, "oh, I got bit by a dog."

WHAT?!?!?

I immediately took one look at him, drug him into the bathroom and started to clean the wound.  I got T dressed, called Jase and told him to meet us at the ER.  On the way out we drove past the area to see if we could spot anyone with a dog Ty described, but we didn’t.

After spending almost 5 hours at one hospital, we were transferred to another further in to Austin because they didn’t have the proper rabies treatments he needed.  At that point Jase brought Taryn home, 2 year olds and ER rooms don’t exactly mesh for long periods of time.  I’m so glad now that he did, because the events at the second hospital were bad, not something I would want her exposed to.  The hospital was great, but the treatment he had to undergo was horrible.  Not knowing the dog or it’s medical records, we were told we had a 12 hour window in which to determine if we would treat Ty for a possible rabies infection.  The end of that window would fall in the middle of the night, and even though the Sheriff and Animal Control were involved and attempting to find the dog and it’s owner, we made the decision with Ty’s doctor to go ahead and get the treatments.  Rabies is fatal, and with only 12 hours from the moment of the bite to get information, there was no question.  He underwent one treatment tonight.  It was awful, 9 shots total, 6 of those into the actual wound area.  I’ve never heard him scream or cry so loud, or for so long.  I’ve never felt so helpless.  Ten years old or not, he’s still my baby.  The worst part…..this was only the first treatment out of 5 that he will have to have, all administered the same way, over the next month.  In addition to several rounds of strong antibiotics to help fight a range of other possible illnesses that can be caused by a dog bite. 

Unless we can find the dog. 

Verify, without a shadow of a doubt it’s medical history.  The Sheriff and Animal Control will assist in quarantining the dog for one week, to test it for illness, including rabies, and observe it for aggressive behaviors.  If it has bitten someone before, it will be put to sleep.  There is a 2 bite law in Texas.  I feel awful about that, being a pet owner myself, but after seeing what my son went through today, I’m furious at the owner of the dog for being so irresponsible.  It’s one of our biggest complaints with our new neighborhood, there are a lot of people with dogs that allow them loose in their front yards and garage, many times not supervised by their owner.  So when you go walking by on the sidewalk, you get bombarded by a barking dog not on a leash.  Seriously, what is wrong with people?!  Do they not realize that if their dog attacks someone, especially a child, that it’s serious?!  We don’t even take Kylie from the front door to the car without a leash.

Ty was playing, minding his own business, and this dog either got out, or wasn’t being watched.  It makes me so angry, just furious.

Tomorrow morning….door to door.  We will find the dog and it’s owner.   And they will be held responsible.