Dog Bites Can

Yesterday morning I came home early from Copper with Piper the Dog. I had a riding lesson I did not want to miss. Laurence and the boys remained in the mountains to ski for a few more hours before returning for their piano lessons late in the afternoon.

I drove straight to the barn and parked. I did look around for horses before letting Piper out of the van but I did not look for the resident peacock. I turned to get her leash and heard the most god-awful racket. I turned and there was my dog barking and jumping in the air as the peacock, clucking away like you wouldn't believe, flew over her head to the roof of the barn. I couldn't believe how large a bird a peacock is with his wings extended. He came within inches of smacking Piper (deservedly) in the head with his claws. She didn't care. She was pretty impressed with herself. The bird continued complaining loudly for another fifteen minutes.

Needless to say, back in the van went the dog. After my lesson (which went well, thank you very much) I drove to lunch with a couple of other people. (If you must know we went to Subway, I had turkey on wheat.) I had driven my van and when I got back in there was a very odd smell. Piper was doing her best to look nonchalant which was a dead giveaway. I went to the back of the van and looked through the stuff I'd brought back from Copper. There it was, the half eaten can of dog food I'd packed under everything in the laundry basket (my favorite way to pack going back and forth from the mountains) so Piper wouldn't get it sitting right next to the basket. She did a pretty good job keeping everything in the basket tidy, if the smell and can hadn't been right there I wouldn't have realized her thievery.

Very little was left in the can and truly I was not too upset with her. I know her well enough to know what she is capable of and should have stowed the food better. What horrified me was the condition of the can. It had holes punctured in it everywhere. I grabbed Piper and immediately looked at her gums and in her mouth and her tongue. No cuts or blood anywhere. I could not believe it. She should have been shredded. She did not even attempt to eat the kibble in the zip-loc bag.

Someone seeing the can remarked, "Good thing it wasn't an arm." I was horrified all over again. It is unbelievable what damage a dog can do with their teeth.

I scolded Piper and told her how lucky she was not to be injured. She yawned and remained unrepentant.