We took our dogs to the park today, and had a good time until the very end when a scuffle ensued, costing our dog part of her ear.

It may be not as bad as it sounds. The dog's not back from the vet yet, so we're not sure what the total damage is. Let me step back just a little bit.

We met some friends at an off-leash dog park by the airport. It's an enormous area where the dogs can stretch their legs, sniff each other, and pee on tree after tree after tree. Well, the boy dogs care about the last one a lot more than the girl dogs.

We made a tentative entry into the park, dogs on leashes. They met a the dogs that were also near the entry, but on the other side, first through the fence, then as we entered. No tensions yet. We let them off the leash and then greeted our friends. I'd not met one yet, so introductions were made, and we started wandering in the park.

The dogs were having a good time running back and forth between groups of dogs and the four of us humans, and then more dogs, and trees, and more dogs... You get the picture.

We wandered about for around an hour. Went out in what would normally be the swamp, but at 30-degrees Fahrenheit is just a tall (dead) grassy area. We went back and forth a few times as one of the dogs would have wandered off and we'd have to find it. We made it back to the entry and decided to go for another half-lap. We made it back to the entry again, and the day was relatively uneventful, as was hoped for. The dogs got a lot of sniffing and peeing and running in, and the humans got a little fresh air, socializing, and exercise, too.

As we stood near the gate through which all of our cars were parked, we were lamenting the lack of warm drink or dog-friendly social environments. Occasionally one of us would call for a dog as they scurried a little too far.

In the moments before exodus, the wife thinks to offer the dogs in our little pack a treat from her pocket. She starts digging, and the dogs all expectantly crowd around. She gives a couple to the dogs, and starts digging for more. In the meantime, other dogs than ours also started over, perhaps drawn to the sound or smell.

In hindsight, it occurred to me that it flit through my mind just a moment too late that perhaps leaving the biscuits in her pocket might be the best move. In reality, I was concerned for the wife, not what happened.

Our little dog was sitting all but between the wife's feet. Our big dog and little dog had snapped and snarled, but he had been righted earlier, and correctly backed off. At just the moment that the thought flit through my head, a strange dog and our little dog started snarling and biting.

Our little dog isn't small by any means. She's a 60-ish pound border collie, who learned to hold her own against our old hundred-ish pound black lab, and maintains her position in the pack with the 70-ish pound pointer who replaced him. We don't let our dogs fight, exactly, but some snapping and barking and wrestling is normal and allowed. We stop them when it gets too long (moments), loud, or aggressive sounding. We are the topper dogs, and they respect that.

The stranger dog was a bigger, probably 80 to 100 pound lab-ish dog. Big, pretty, white fur. Seemed nice enough until the snapping started. He hadn't been around that I noticed, until just before this moment.

The barking, snarling, and snapping went on for a few seconds, and I stuck my arm in to pull the dogs away. I'm a 300 pound, leather (and warm-weather layered) armored top-dog, so I wasn't expecting much more than some disgruntled looks. The dogs parted for a moment, and then the big stranger dog lunged in at our little dog, who'd dropped to the ground and was defending her space from there.

He moved a little faster than I could grab his collar, which I got on the second try, I pulled him up and off, and during this maneuver, our dog was let go, made another lunge at him, and the wife got her collar. The stranger dog's owner reached in and grabbed him.

Then someone noticed the blood.

Our little dog was bleeding from both ears. Now calm and submissive, since (I'm guessing) I'd put an end to the fight (she usually gets calm immediately after I subdue things at home). She came when I called, and sat nicely as I gave her a quick peruse. Sure enough, there were big drools of blood falling from both of her ears.

I checked each of them. Her right ear looked to be nicked up, but only scratched, and bled just drops; more if I squeezed, which caused her no visible discomfort. Her left ear, though looked to be torn, and I spent a little time trying to smooth the fur into the same direction and see more. The left ear was dribbling, but not squirting, blood, and it looked as though her ear had been torn a bit.

In the background, the wife and other dog owner were exchanging apologies, and other people were murmuring speculations. Someone directed me to stop pulling on the dogs ears; I was very gently brushing to get the fur aligned, and little more. I asked stranger dog if hers was OK, and she said he was fine. There were offers to exchange information and cover expenses, but I knew, and as I heard the wife explain, we felt responsible for our dog, and threw no blame on her or her dog.

We left the dog area so there'd be a little less milling about, and the whole way the dog was leaving drops of blood from both ears. The wife grabbed a towel and we again checked, this time sopping up some of the excess. I washed my gloves with snow, thankful that they're neoprene and rubber instead of the fleece gloves I almost grabbed. The wife took a towel intended to dry the snowy dogs and wrapped her head. The dog's head, not the wife's head.

We said good-bye to our friends, who extended their sympathies. We brought the big dog home and took the little dog to the emergency vet down the road; our vet is closed on Sunday. After a pretty brief wait, the vet had a chance to examine our dog and gave us the bad news. The right ear is torn just a little and will need probably a couple of stitches to ensure vascular integrity is maintained. The left ear was torn through the cartilage, and would need a bit more careful reconstruction. Both were fairly serious woulds, but neither was life threatening.

We left our dog in the hands of the vet, and returned home. Surgery is expected to last a few hours, and we anticipate retreival at 4PM this evening.