A Dog Attack and the Restoration of Shalom...

last night our dog, Tahoe, was attacked by a pit bull.

i took him out for our normal quick walk before bed so that he can do his business (we walk to the same driveway, turn around, and come back pretty much every night). as we were on our way back home, a lady with a pit bull came to the corner and turned toward us. shortly after they turned, the dog took off at us and when it got to us, it latched on to Tahoe's neck as if he was out to kill him. it was one of the scariest moments of my life...and it happened so fast.

i first began kicking the dog as hard as i could in the side while still holding Tahoe's leash and trying to pull him away. when this did no good, i dropped the leash and jumped on top of the dog...pinning his head to the ground so that he could not shake Tahoe's neck. while doing this, i tried to punch the dog in the head or anywhere that i could. at this point, Tahoe was yelping and making some bad sounding noises...which had me seriously concerned that the dog had already ripped open Tahoe's neck.

when the punching didn't work either, i quickly got back to my feet and yanked on the dog's neck and collar and this finally caused the dog to release. as i was holding the dog, i saw that Tahoe was able to walk up into the yard...seeming to be stunned but at least moving. unfortunately, about this time, the dog's head slipped through the harness he was wearing and he was on the loose again. it took off towards Tahoe and i took off after it, and fortunately i was able to deter it from latching on to Tahoe's neck again. i began to yell for him to run and to run towards home (we were only about three houses from home) and about that time Cailyn came out the front door because she had heard the commotion. so Cailyn coaxed Tahoe to her as i began to yell to her that she needed to check his neck and see if he was bleeding. fortunately, she found that his neck was not ripped open...just a very minor cut and a bit of swelling in the neck area where the dog latched on.

when i knew he was okay, i went back down to where it all happened, to check on the lady and her dog. they were working on getting the dog's harness back on. it seemed to be fine. the lady on the other hand, was not fine. she was pretty hysterical. Mainly she was just very sorry and apologetic. i tried to assure her that our dog was fine and to tell her that i was sorry for having to do what i did to her dog.

all in all, it was an incredibly scary situation and one i hope to never have to go through again.

but in the aftermath, it got me thinking about some things i read yesterday in Simply Christian, by N.T. Wright. he is talking about the book of Isaiah, and he says: "In his eleventh chapter the prophet paints a picture of a world put to rights, of the wolf lying down with the lamb, and of the earth being filled with God's glory as the water covers the sea."

he talks about how, obviously, this is not the case currently...the wolf does not lie with the lamb (which was very obvious to me as Tahoe was attacked by this dog). but Wright goes on to call this awareness that things are not as they could be and will be, "an echo of a voice". and he talks about these "echoes of a voice" being things that point us to and make us aware of the fact that there is something more out there to be had...that there is a shalom...a rightness...a wholeness...a completeness that God is calling us towards and to participate in.

and while i don't think that God is calling me to become the next dog whisperer and to restore the shalom between fighting dogs...the fighting dogs remind me that there are all kinds of things in this world that surrounds us that we can play a role in restoring the shalom of. and so, while the memory of Tahoe being attacked is not a fond one for me...i want to allow it to inspire me to do more of what God is calling me to do in the restoration of His Shalom.