On the advice of... Oh, just about everyone I know, I called the dogowners and made them take me to the hospital. They begged and pleaded with me to say it was a stray dog and not get their precious taken away from them. I laid out my moral dilemma and told them I was a terrible liar, but went along with it because they were paying and they promised to keep Cujo chained up. The doctors gave me a scrip for antibiotics, then called around to find rabies shots and told me to go down to Baton Rouge tonight and begin the ten day, six shot course. The dog is healthy, and I'm not willing to deal with all of that, especially since the last known case of rabies in Louisiana was in 1979, and was from a squirrel. I like those odds! The doctor told me to take it easy tomorrow, so I'm taking one more day off, which is fine, since it may storm tomorrow anyway, and there's a headwind.
I came back to the camp, and my new camp neighbors are nice, and we're hanging around a fire. They have a dog, which freaked me out a little at first, but we made friends and I am on the road to recovery. I have a good story about Cletus and a rattlesnake, but I guess I'll save that for tomorrow.
7 comments:
Glad you went to the Doctor, but I still think I would have reported it as their dog, they have the rabies report and chances are they wouldn't have taken the dog away unless he was reported has biting the other person that was wearing pants. Bill's right, what if it had been a little kid on a bike.
Take it easy!
jo
I have to agree. Maybe it's the kind of thing that's impossible to do while you're standing next to them but I think you still need to report the dog. Maybe they'll just give it a warning but at least it'll be on record.
Also did the doctor only recommend the rabies shots because he thought the dog was a stray? I guess that would make more sense.
Yes, he only recommended the shots because of the wild card factor. So I felt like an ass because they were calling all around trying to track down the shots, and I would have felt like an ass going all snitch on them. It sucks either way. Part of me still really wants to report it, but I get the feeling that the way the rules are around here, that dog would be destroyed if I did. I don't want anyone else bitten, but it's their family pet, and after spending some time with them it seems pretty clear that they feel terrible, and are relieved that it's not worse. They will be getting the emergency room bill, which will definitely be a hardship for them, because they are not rich people. They kept asking if they could do anything else, and I was like "seriously, please, all I want is for you to keep that thing chained up!" I think they will, because they don't want to go through this again.
Rationalize, rationalize... It's done. I hear what everyone is saying, but I'm not going to second guess what I've done or go back on my word.
Bill and Jo, you guys are the best! Thanks so much for your concern. You called while I was in the hospital, so I couldn't really answer, but I'll try to reach you tomorrow.
I'm am really glad to hear that.
Hey Cheri,
I'm so glad you got it treated. I understand the delimna. You want justice done, but inviting the authorities into a sitch like this winds up making things worse for EVERYONE (in my opinion). Hopefully they have learned a lesson.
Thanks, Beth! It' comforting to have a Loiusiana native opinion on this. I do feel like they learned a lesson. They got punished, I got treated, and every now and then citizens can deal with their disputes on their own.
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