When Aliens Attack

According to my friend Matt, both my dogs are Aliens. He says this because he thinks that all dogs should be some form of Lab or Beagle or "real dog" and not something that could be categorized as "ugly cute" (dog #1) or majestically regal (dog #2).

Tonight, I got a taste of what happens when "aliens attack". Specifically, each other.

I have been pondering feeding my dogs RAW off and on for years. About 2 1/2 months ago, I finally took the plunge. Now, when Dog #2 joined our family, we noticed immediately that he had some minor food aggression issues. We were very quick to nip those in the bud as with having a young child in the house, that simply wasn't going to be tolerated. After months of working on this, we were finally able to have both dogs eating in the same room at the same time with little "interference" from us. And by the time I started feeding raw, I barely had to supervise them together.

Until tonight.

My neighbor came to the door and distracted me momentarily while the dogs were eating. I was gone only for a moment when I heard the growls, the nails on the linoleum, the scuffle. I literally FLEW from one end of the house to the other (all of maybe 25 feet, honestly) to intercede. I found Dog #1 (a small dog mind you) with her small chomps clambering to get a grip on the chicken leg I had served up and Dog #2 (a "large" dog who's head stands even with my hip) with his jowls completely covering said chicken leg and pulling away, both growling at each other. Upon my return, little dog scurried away, for some reason thinking she was in trouble (but I knew immediately it was HER leg that HE was after and that she was simply defending her own right to eat) and I immediately gripped the big dog by the neck, took hold of the raw chicken leg which I pried out of his mouth, returned to little dog and proceeded to escort big dog to his crate for an apparently much needed time out.

My poor neighbor's wife came flying out, thinking the scuffle was actually in HER house (it was that loud, plus we live in a Duplex), her hand on her pounding chest.

I think I need a hot bath and a bottle of wine. Not a glass...a bottle. For now, I'm surviving with the leftover Dark Chocolate Frosting from the cake I made 2 weeks ago.