Last weekend’s Wildflower Triathlon Festival was my best experience ever at the event. Not simply because I chose to race the shorter, easier Olympic distance course, but more importantly because I was accompanied by the four-legged fur-covered love of my life. Viggo is an Australian Shepherd, 2 months shy of his 2nd birthday. He stole my heart the moment I laid eyes on his 15-week-old puppy fuzz, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. Inseparable, that is, except when I travel, which is quite often. Then he either goes to boarding camp or stays with friends until we’re reunited in a flurry of snuggles and puppy kisses.
To say I baby my dog would be a bit of an understatement. He’s not exactly the most emotionally mature pup on the planet anyway, and I do nothing to discourage his youthful disposition. You could accurately label him one big whopping baby of a mama’s boy. He’s totally attached to me and feels a burning need to be within sight, oftentimes within touching & snuggling distance of me at all times. Which of course I hate.
Viggo’s adventures at Wildflower kicked off on a positive note the
first day when he was reunited with Sarah Reinertsen and Lauren Henne
of CAF, two friends he met a year ago at the Escape from Alcatraz
Triathlon. Along with Scout Bassett, the gals posed for pictures with
my boy-dog, lavishing affection on him and making incredulous comments
as to how much he has grown.
Viggo also bonded with some wonderful new canine friends, Czr and
Harley, and their human counterparts, Lisa Bilotti and TJ Murphy of
Triathlete Mag. It’s a miracle we all went home with the correct dog,
the three of them look so similar!
In deference to Viggo’s high maintenance demands, we opted out of the
discomfort of a Lake San Antonio campsite and instead stayed in a hotel
in nearby Paso Robles. As evidenced by the photos, Viggo gave a two
paws up rating to the comfortable bed at the Hampton Inn.
Unfortunately, the playful tone of the weekend took a turn for the
worse on Saturday when Viggo was viciously attacked by a (dare I say)
bitch of a black lab. We headed down to the lake to cool off while the
long course athletes were out on the bike, joining a handful of other
people and dogs enjoying the sunny day. Out of nowhere the lab jumped
him, rolling him into the hillside and then pouncing on him again as he
scurried to escape under the race course fencing. She was on top of him
and he was screaming bloody murder, an unearthly screeching like I’ve
never before heard. I was screaming at her and trying to get them
apart, as were several other people, but they were a fast-moving blur
of fur and teeth and aggression. Finally we separated the two, and
luckily for Viggo he made it through with only a few bite puncture
wounds and scrapes to his front leg. Those, along with a serious case
of the mommy-don’t-leave-me’s and the let-me-hide-behind-you’s.
He spent the remainder of the afternoon recuperating in the shade of
the Triathlete and CAF expo tents, and with a good dose of sympathy
attention and a second night’s sleep at the Inn he was happily back to
his normal puppy self on Sunday. A big WOOF and a shout out to Lauren,
Brandi and Brooke for babysitting while I raced.
I’ll write about my race in another post, but more importantly I want
to share a tip my mother gave me following the weekend’s incident.
Apparently, the best method to deter an attacking dog is to jab the dog
in the rear-end with a stick. The aggressor will not be able to
tolerate the sensation, and will loose its prey in favor of retaliating
against the stick. Not that I’m a proponent of stick-poking dogs
willy-nilly, but I can guarantee you that if my baby is ever the victim
of such violence again, the attacker will experience swift and
significant anal discomfort!
