Poor Perros

One of the dangers in rural living is the WILD creatures lurking at night. Monday night our other babies tangled with the unknown. We had let the dogs out only minutes before and started a movie when Scott said PAUSE IT! He ran to the back door and the hair raising sound of dogs fighting hit me like a knife. Sliding uncontrollably sock footed across our newly polished floors, Scott dove for the flashlight as I screamed YOU HAVE TO GO OUT THERE. YOU HAVE TO STOP THEM. The sound of yelps, snarls, cries and splashing drifted up the hill from the creek. Silent moments and panting sounds made me fear the worst, and then the battle would begin again. Through the woods below I could see the beam of Scott's flashlight bouncing. The fear in his voice was audible as he called the dogs to COME. Eventually they did. Covered from head to toe in black mud, both were bloody and exhausted. We washed them down in our Brand New Shower, let them shake onto our Freshly Painted Walls, tended to their wounds and took them to the vet the next day. The vet gave them rabies boosters and antibiotics but said it was best to leave the wounds open to prevent infection. Deflated and traumatized, the dogs are now living like royalty, licking their wounds and lounging on our furniture. Duncan appeared at first to have been hurt the worst, with two large puncture wounds in his thigh that bled profusely; but Tucker now seems worse for the wear -- a large gash in her foot is making it hard for her to walk. We have no idea what they tangled with: a stray dog, a coyote, a raccoon, an otter, a possum? All these possibilities have been presented by my helpful coworkers who told every horror story in the book: Coons that will lead an animal to water and then jump on its head and try to drown it, aggressive otters, nasty possums. But surely that wouldn't have happened to our two large dogs. Even one stray dog would have been outnumbered by our two-pack. It will remain a mystery, but I can't help but wonder: If our dogs are this torn up, what kind of shape is the other animal in?