The incident

 

 

Well, it happened.  Austin got attacked by a dog--our neighbor's dog.  As a parent, of course, you hope this never happens to your child.  Austin has always loved dogs and has known no boundaries with them though, (even with constant reminders from us) so I guess this kind of incident was just waiting to happen.

 

 

It could've been worse too.  One day Austin and Eric were coming home from football practice, when they noticed the neighbor's dog out running around (a frequent thing).  The owners were nowhere to be seen, so they decided to try to capture him.  With Eric coaxing the dog from the opposite side of the street and Austin on the neighbor's front lawn doing the same, the dog decided that instead of run away, he would attack Austin (probably because it felt threatened).

 

 

He bit a small piece of his ear off and scratched up his head and side.  The ear was by far had the most damage, and it bled for a good while.  Austin was pretty inconsolable, as it hurt pretty bad.  Luckily, we were able to get control of the bleeding and dress it and he calmed down.

 

 

When I came home and heard what had happened, my "mama bear" instinct came out big time!  I stormed over to the neighbor's house and let them have it (ok, maybe not quite like that, but I was pretty upset and stern)!  They almost didn't believe me though because (supposedly) their dog has never done that before.  I told them I would gladly show them Austin's ear and I also threatened to call Animal Control if their dog got out again.  Let's hope they take it seriously.

 

 

For now though, Austin doesn't seem to traumatized by the incident.  Many kids are afraid of dogs after getting attacked, but not Austin!  Thank goodness for that! :)