I had it all set in my head. I was going to log in and tell you about the cat that I found in a local park. She was old, she was bony, she was barely moving. There were people moving all around her. Ignoring her pleas for water and assistance. She was declawed, weak, dehydrated she was dying. But people were partying around her. She wasn’t hidden, she was under a tree.

I happened to be visiting a friend that lived on that street, and I stopped at the park to give Kota a run. I saw the kitty, so I left him in the truck and ran over, She was so debilitated. There was a little girl almost on top of her playing with a balloon!  I asked her if she knew anything about this cat? She just shrugged her shoulders and told me the kitty had been there for awhile.

I raced back to the truck. Thankfully,  I had a small blanket tucked under the seat. I picked her up gently, rushed her to the vet. On the way to the vet she died. She was a Siamese, someone had decided her life wasn’t worth much. (That decision was made when she was declawed). I named her Spark and left her with the vet so they would cremate her and do a community scattering. Our ground here is so hard that even my tractor could not have made a dent in the soil.

So I was going to share all of that and call it a day, then on Saturday the 30th, a day that will stick in my mind forever. I got a call from a friend. She had recently lost her Bull Mastiff and she had found another dog that she had at her home. The owner was there at the time, and she wanted me to come by and meet the dog and give her some tips about how to introduce him to the five kittens she adopted from me a few years ago. I asked her if the dog was dog friendly, she left the phone came and said Yes, Dan (the owner) said his dog was dog friendly. So I brought Kota with me, a decision I shall forever regret.

Kota is very intuitive about dogs. I did not teach him this, he just knows that with aggressive dogs, he immediately goes submissive. On his back, paws up, no threat. They back off because that is a pack way. For shy dogs, he lays down so his belly is flat, he lowers his head and lets them sniff him until they are satisfied that he is okay. And for happy, active dogs he is a tornado of play.

We get there and I keep him in the truck. I have been around dogs long enough to know that when they are on their property, they are highly protective. I told my friend that I was going to take Kota for a walk and that she and the previous owner needed to go down the driveway and walk away from where we were standing (a few houses down)

So they come down the driveway and this dog is HUGE!  He is bigger than a Mastiff. They start walking. The dog is focused on the street ahead of him. I am about a yard away and ready to make a giant swing into the street far enough away to keep us safe and come up in the street ahead of them,

Well this brute finally saw Kota and it was on. He didn’t even show one “Tell” There was no growling, no barking, not a raised lip, no tucked tail or low body posture. NOTHING! He lunged and in doing so (I found out later) broke the metal ring on his collar where the leash was and he knocked over his elderly owner.

But he was on Kota. Kota went submissive, didn’t matter this dog was on the kill. Kota was screaming, like I never want to hear him scream again. The dog was laying on Kota with both of his front legs in his mouth. He was chewing on him like he was a piece of chicken. Kota is screaming, he’s not fighting back.

I just jumped in. I was screaming. I grabbed that damn dog’s collar and I yanked as hard as I could. I pounded on the side of the dog’s face with my fist and I am screaming Get off my dog! He finally let go of Kota and Kota took off screaming. He was shot out of a cannon, he was moving so fast. It happened by the University of Oregon. There were people during the fight coming out of their houses, cars were stopping, people were getting out of their cars. It was like a circus.  All this was happening during the fight. The dog ,he didn’t bark when he was on Kota, he roared. I’ve never heard anything like that.

So there I am, I have this dog, I am behind him and I have his collar in both hands. I am keeping him off the ground with all my might and I don’t know to this day how I did that? This dog,  it would turn out was over 200 pounds. I am 180.

So he turns and he sees me. It  was eerie. The look in his eyes- he was cunning. He lunged backward and threw me off balance. I fell into the gutter, and I felt this tremendous pain in my bad knee and my foot. I saw him back up and crouch down. I met those black eyes and they were narrowed. I knew he was thinking he had me.  I also knew, that even if I ended up in the hospital I was going to kill that son-of-a-bitch.

I was getting ready to bring my legs to my chest and kick this brute with all my might. He went to launch on me and he was grabbed by onlookers, i think. (Its all sort of a blur). I tried to get to my feet and a this kid built like a football player leaned in and said Where do you hurt?”  I told him my knee and my foot and this kid just lifted me up under my arms like I was 40 pounds.

I turned around screaming Kota’s name over and over again. I wanted whoever might have him to know that someone was looking for him. I had flashes of thoughts that someone would see him, stuff him in the car and take off with him, or he was  laying somewhere dying. I tried to hurry but my leg wasn’t cooperating.

I finally got to the street where he disappeared. People were reaching me, telling me it was okay that the dog was gone. I didn’t care about the damn dog. I wanted Kota..I Iooked down the street and I saw him clear at the end. He was flanked by the two female joggers who went after him after he fled. They wanted to bring him back to me, but he couldn’t walk.

When I reached him, we were both shaking. I put him on the down, stay and he laid down on the grass. I carefully searched him looking for bite wounds, broken bones. His front legs were swelling at an alarming rate. The guy who helped me up had followed me. He told me that he could carry Kota back to the truck for me.

I told him I couldn’t let him do that. Although my dog is the sweetest dog on the planet and a service dog, I explained. He also just got attacked with such ferocity that if he was injured internally and you hit a pain spot, he might bite you because he is not himself.

I bent down and I talked to Kota. I told him I had a big Ask. He had to get up. I had to get him to the truck and get him to my vet. Bless his heart, he got up and both of us limped back to the truck with people following us. There were people on the adjacent streets coming out, They did not see the attack, but they heard it. I still hear it in my head at night. The noise was unbelieveable.

On the way to the truck, the owner appeared. I  put out my arm at full length and told him to go away. I did not want to talk to him right now. He said to me:

“I have one question”

I snapped back “WHAT?”

Then he asked me the strangest thing:

“Did you see any red on your dog?”

I looked at him, and I said, no, I did not see any bite wounds.

To which he replied “Oh you won’t he NEVER leaves bite wounds!”

Well, i already knew the man was a liar and a pastor! This photo taken two days after the fight proves he lies. His question to me and his answer showed me this dog has done this before.

And these aren’t even the bad ones! Those are inside his leg, one going up into his chest with a drain in it. I won’t show those.

Kota has 10 bite wounds. He has soft tissue damage to his front legs, his left side where he was slammed to the ground. When we shaved him, he has bruising from neck to tail on his belly and on his left side. He is on Rimadyl, Cephalexin, Trammadol and CBD oil. He is having nightmares every night, as am I. He is on house arrest for months. I take him by his leash to his pen four times a day to potty. If he doesn’t have pain killers on board, he can only walk two steps before he collapses.

I have filed a report against the owner. If I told you my friend still has the dog, you wouldn’t believe me but she does. At least the last time I talked to her she does. She “feels sorry for the dog. It wasn’t his fault!” I have tried with all my might to talk her into taking this dog and surrendering him, but instead she is keeping him. She goes outside with him and reads her book! I told her she has a suicide bomber in her backyard and she has no idea when this dog will trigger. She doesn’t believe me. If she goes as far as to let him in the house, he will barrel through the door of the basement and kill the cats and the bunnies who now live down there.

I thought she was senile by how she was talking, until one night about 2:00 in the morning, I got these strange texts from her that were unreadable. Fearing the dog had finally gotten to her, I called her and in 5 minutes I knew, she was stinkin drunk. I have parted ways with her. The police tell me I cannot do anything about her keeping this dog. She is a grown lady and if she wants a killer dog, so be it. I can’t even go over and get my cats back. They have no rights or standing in the law.

I could kick myself for being so stupid about all of this. I never take anyone’s word for it when they tell me their dog is dog friendly. But I trusted her. I would learn later that the owner spent three days with her and the dog prior to my arrival. WHO does that? Who adopts a dog out and then spends 3 hours or 3 damn days with the adopter. That would be a red flag for me right there.

So I have parted ways with this woman. My focus is on Kota and getting him back to health. I will no longer be able to use him for Service. He has been retired. I cannot trust that taking him into public places will not trigger him if he sees another giant dog, or smells something, or sees something that triggers him into attack mode. He has PTSD now and so do I. The vet said once he is better, he will be put on Prozac in a low-dose. He still has nightmares, he screams in his sleep. He’s trying to constantly crawl into my lap and freaks out every time I go outside without him.

I am so mad at myself. I caused this gentle boy to endure this pain. I hope he forgives me for all of this. I’ve asked God to forgive me too.  The vet said that two things saved Kota. He weighs 90 pounds and he DIDN”T fight back.

This is the Red Zone dog that attacked Kota. I had posted on FB about this attack. I received a private message from a gal in Idaho that trains dogs- service dogs, attack dogs, guard dogs, she does them all. This is not a bull mastiff. This is a mix of two South African dogs a Boerbol, and a Kanga. Both dogs are fiercely protective and are used to hunt and kill lions.

She said that looking at what she called Level 3 bites on the photo, tells her that his dog has been trained to bite the body suit. You know those big inflatable suits they use in police work for attack. She said this dog needs to go to the bridge immediately. I have no control over that. He bit my dog. had he bit me perhaps I would have more standing on what happens to him. My friend insists that he is “so loving, so gentle, so wonderful”  I just want to throw up when she tells me this over and over.again..

Thanks for letting me get all of this off my chest..I hope Kota comes out  the other side the same as he was, but I doubt it. All his work we were doing in nursing homes and children’s hospitals will now cease. And this dog? I hope my friend comes to her senses and puts him down.