In Memoriam: HSF Jaguar Moon

HSF Jaguar Moon  3/14/2012 - 6/11/2014

My heart is so heavy tonight.  My chest feels like it has a full ton of bricks sitting on top of it. There is a hole where my heart was.  And I am very, very angry.  This could have been prevented.  This did not have to happen.  I warned the neighbors about what could happen, but they kept telling me their dogs "just wanted to play."  I asked them to fix their fence where their two dogs kept getting out and onto my property.  They leaned a fence panel here and there or a piece of old tin roofing, nothing substantial.  The dogs found other places to get out, more panels, more tin leaning up against the fence.  "They just want to play!"  It is bad enough that as I walk down my driveway to the mailbox or mow my lawn, the dogs are constantly growling and barking at me from their side of the fence.  

Sometime last night after 3 am, after Ben got home from work and put the garbage out by the highway for pickup, the dogs got out once again and ransacked that same garbage, then got into Jagger's pasture, chased him, cornered him, and killed him.  They were just wanting to play.  They bit his nose off and tore off huge clumps of fiber from his neck.  They bit him on his stomach.  Then they left.  This morning they were on my back porch chasing Max, my outside cat..... again.

Now, I know that a lot of you are animal lovers. I am very much an animal lover.  A lot of you are most especially fond of dogs.  Some of you think that Pit Bulls get a bad rap.  I respect your opinion.  I do not agree entirely. These were Pit Bulls.  They were an incident waiting to happen.  They do not just want to play. They want to attack.  That is what they were bred to do.  Not all Pit Bulls act on this impulse, and they can make very good and sweet family dogs with the right people and training.  I understand this and I do believe this.  My son, Matt, and his girlfriend, Melissa, have a wonderful Pit Bull/Basenji mix that is so gentle and sweet. Stella is afraid of her own shadow.  She fascinates me, and I adore her.  

Here in East Texas, however, a great many people have Pit Bulls for the sake of Looking Tough.  The dogs are often inbred, and are not of good quality, and most are not trained to behave. This is a real shame.  This is why they have a Bad Reputation. The inbreeding and over-breeding leads to the more agressive characteristics being dominant. I say this from observation and from an intellectual standpoint.  I am very familiar with genetics, having bred llamas, purebred dogs, and purebred cats. It just makes sense.  

I have actually seen people selling Pit Bull puppies at Canton and in the Walmart parking lot proudly proclaiming how agressive the pups will be when they are grown. 

In my part of the world, adults and children get mauled by Pit Bulls, and most of the victims die, and any that do survive retain horribly disfiguring scars for the rest of their lives.  Some of the victims are members of the dog's own human family.  Dog fighting does go on around here.  I know this because arrests are made every now and then, and it is reported in the newspaper.

This is what being mauled by a pair of Pit Bulls looks like if you care to see:

This is what is left of Jagger.

This was the Arena.  You can see the trampled grass and mud, full of dog foot prints. Bite marks on his belly and clumps of his lovely fiber here and there on the ground.  

This is what is left of Jagger's nose.  I found it about 5 feet from his body.

Yes, I did call the Sheriff, and they sent out a Deputy Constable who cross-examined me as if I were a defendant on trial.  He said he would try to get "in contact" with the owner of the dogs.  He said he would write up an "incident report."  He didn't believe us when we showed him where the dogs get out under the fence because he thought they would need to dig out, even though Ben and I told him that we had seen with our own eyes how they came and went numerous times.  He asked me when I last saw Jagger alive ten different times, but my story didn't change.  He called this "just a dog incident."  I told him that next time it might be one of the neighborhood children.  

I also told him that I was planning to raise chickens and turkeys when I retire in two years.  That they, along with my garden, would be my main food source on my road toward sustainability once I am on limited financial means. How was I going to be able to do that with dogs that get out and "play" with my creatures? I didn't mention the paw prints I have seen in parts of my garden recently.  I could tell he didn't feel my pain. 

Several friends have told me what I need to do.  But, I am an animal lover.  I just want the dogs to be kept responsibly on their own property, and let me enjoy Life on HeartSong Farm without any more "dog incidents." 

I leave you with a photo of the first hour of Jagger's short life.

My beautiful spotted boy at 40 minutes old, drying in the sun.  In the next 15 minutes, he was on his feet and nursing.

He will be missed.

Hearts are very heavy tonight on HeartSong Farm.