Mean Dogs

First let me say that I am a dog person. I love dogs. We own a miniature schnauzer right now, and have had a black lab and bloodhound in the past (which aren't small breeds) so I know it wasn't the size that scared us. So I keep thinking about what we went through and wonder if I could have handled it differently to improve the outcome. This is what happened: the other evening the boys and I decided to ride our bikes to Austin's school so they could play on the toys. On the way there a weimaramer dog (which are suppose to be good dogs, good with kids,etc.) came running after us. I had Tate on the back of my bike and Austin was riding his own. At first I thought that he just wanted to run along side of us than he caught up to Austin and started nipping at him. He teeth came down on his arm but I wasn't sure how hard. He was crying saying that the dog had bit him. I told Austin to go as fast as he could and after we got up the road a bit we pulled over and I checked his arm. There was some scratches and teeth marks but the bite didn't break the skin. I think it mostly scared him. The boys had a lovely time playing at the school and then it was time to go home. I gave Austin the option of going around the long way which would be an extra couple of miles or to be brave and try to pass the house with the dog again. This time I was prepared and put Austin on the other side of the road and I rode closest to the house. As we came up on the house there was not just one but two dogs this time. My protective mother claws were out and they crossed me and started for Austin so I circled around and started yelling at them. One of the dogs started nipping at my feet and I got really scared and lifted up my legs, tried to kick their faces, and screamed loud. They were growling and weren't happy at this point. Luckily the owner heard me scream and called the dogs back to their house. I yelled at her to "keep her dang dogs away from my kid" which is very out of character for me, but I was trying to protect my child. Well, did I overreact? Maybe if I stopped my bike to pet the dogs and let Austin ride ahead it would have been better. Then again, they might have really taken after him and I would have been too far behind to defend him. I think we will just hop in the car next time we want to play at the school.

The tooth

Austin lost his first tooth this past weekend. It has been loose for a couple of weeks and it was just hanging there. His permanent tooth was growing in behind it and Spencer thought that it would grow in crooked if we didn't get his baby tooth out of the way. So after he fell asleep Spencer pull it out with pliers. He didn't even wake up. He didn't even realize it was gone until Spencer said something to him the next morning. That night we didn't get home until late and Austin fell asleep in the car on the way home so he couldn't put his tooth under his pillow. When the tooth fairy didn't come he was upset, and told me that he had woken during the night and put his tooth under his pillow. I felt so bad. Our tooth fairy must have been sleeping on the job. The next day he was carrying his tooth around with him and lost it in the pickup. He was so devastated but do you know while he was taking a nap my mother in law showed him that the tooth fairy must have found his tooth because she left him some money. All is right in the world again.