Close Encounter of the Deer Kind

We have 4 city dogs that think they are pretty tough. Barking at the deer through the fence provides them a buffer that makes them feel more invincible than they really are. They found out today that living in the country and mingling with the wildlife is not always a walk in the park.

Terry has been taking the dogs for a walk in the morning. He takes a leash with him in case he has one that doesn't listen so well, but for the most part they are able to walk without leashes.

The first half of today's walk was uneventful. They ended up at the dam, where there is also a boat ramp and swimming area. Terry was keeping his eye on Boone, who is the one that tends to run off. Frank spotted a young deer and apparently went after it. The young deer started squealing, which brought the mama deer over at a dead run. She hit Frank and sent him rolling, with her hoofs hitting him each time he rolled. Franks's squealing brought our little min pin, Polly over to save him. She distracted the mama deer long enough for Frank to get away and run toward Terry. In the process, Polly got kicked in the head. The two big dogs finally jumped in and chased the mother deer off in one direction while the young deer went the other way - both uninjured.

When Terry got to Polly, she was staggering a bit so he picked her up. She went limp in his arms, and he was afraid that she may have been severely hurt. He started back to the cabin - about a mile and a half away - carrying Polly with Frank walking. Flip came back to join up with them, and Polly was eventually able to walk too. In the meantime, Boone had come back to the house. I had the feeling that something was going on, so I jumped in the car to see where the rest of them were. When I met up with Terry, Flip, Frank, and Polly, he gave me the short version of the story. I took Polly in the car, and the rest of them finished the walk.

Frank ended up with several cuts from the deer hooves. A trip to the vet will be on his agenda tomorrow morning with the possibility of a couple of stitches fairly likely.

After a call to Texas A&M's Small Animal clinic, they confirmed that we could wait and go to our regular vet tomorrow morning. Terry is putting some antibiotic ointment on Frank's cuts.

We are watching Polly closely, but so far she seems to be okay...just a bit of a knot on her head.

We think that Frank owes Polly big time - don't think that the mama deer would have stopped her attack without Polly jumping in. Polly owes a debt of gratitude to Flip and Boone who sent mama running. And I think Boone may have come straight back to the cabin to let me know that something was going on...

A potentially devastating event ended with minimal injury due to the camaraderie of our rag-tag group of rescue dogs. Maybe they will have a greater respect for the deer now, and I hope they will think twice about chasing them from now on!