{"id":4360,"date":"2012-04-22T17:26:09","date_gmt":"2012-04-22T21:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/?p=4360"},"modified":"2012-10-03T17:47:15","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T21:47:15","slug":"the-foster-chronicles-tulip-week-4-days-4-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/22\/the-foster-chronicles-tulip-week-4-days-4-7\/","title":{"rendered":"The Foster Chronicles: Tulip, Week 5, Days 4-7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Day 4<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m so tired and so sore, from work and from workouts. I decide to take the dogs on the shorter loop.<\/p>\n<p>As I leash up Redford and Violet, Tulip worries (as usual) that I might not take her this time (even though I always take her).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F3dcyoRGHAk?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Half an hour later, at the back door, I must zone out for a second because, for some incomprehensible reason, I untether Tulip first. Then Redford, but by the time I go for Violet, Tulip and she are already at it. Snarling. Teeth. Jumping. Clashing.<\/p>\n<p>All the articles online say don&#8217;t yell&#8212;it makes it worse&#8212;but I&#8217;m yelling. &#8220;Stop! Stop! Stop! Goddammit!&#8221; Though Violet&#8217;s still on the leash, she&#8217;s attempting to fight Tulip off, and\u00a0Redford is trying to defend his sister as well. We&#8217;re all going around in circles on the deck.<\/p>\n<p>The articles also say, to break up a dogfight, you need as many people as there are dogs involved. Each person picks up the hind legs of a dog and walks backward. I&#8217;m by myself, and I literally, at one point, yell, &#8220;Oh, god! Help!&#8221; Who I expect to help me is unclear, but I am so scared.<\/p>\n<p>I finally wrestle Redford and Violet into the yard and close the gate, shutting Tulip on the deck by herself. I don&#8217;t know if <a href=\"http:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/?p=4178\">her heart rate&#8217;s up<\/a>, but mine sure as shit is. I sit on the steps and pet Redford and Violet. When I glance back at Tulip, she&#8217;s wagging. It&#8217;s been <em>five seconds<\/em>\u00a0since the fight.\u00a0A rage boils inside me. For the first (and, I hope, only) time, I feel violent towards my foster dog.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t act on my feeling. I breathe and pet my babies, then I take Tulip inside and put her unceremoniously in her kennel. She whines. I tell her to be quiet.<\/p>\n<p>Violet is licking her right haunch. I flip on the light and take a look. She&#8217;s bleeding, there on her hip, and above and below her left eye. I wash her wounds and feel very, very sad.<\/p>\n<p>Fifteen minutes later, I realize my thigh stings. I look down. My pants are torn, and my leg is bleeding.<\/p>\n<p>Looking back, the skirmish lasted probably thirty to forty-five seconds, but in dog years, what is that?, like a fortnight or something. It certainly felt like it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 5<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I notice Tulip has a scratch on her right cheek. (I guess Violet got one jab in.) I wash her wound and feel very, very sad.<\/p>\n<p>No walk today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 6<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My thighs are covered in bruises from the spat.<\/p>\n<p>I realize Tulip may have to go to a one-dog household. That, or to an owner who&#8217;s willing to do some hard work.<\/p>\n<p>No walk today.<\/p>\n<p>I sprint out the door to make it my friend&#8217;s birthday dinner on time, realizing on the way there that my dark purple shirt is now fur-trimmed and I don&#8217;t have a lint roller. Ah, the perils of taking snuggly naps on the couch\u00a0with one&#8217;s foster dog prior to social engagements.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 7<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Between thundershowers, I gird my loins and talk the doggies for a walk. It&#8217;s amazing to me that they can walk on the leash with their sides touching, no problem, but the unstructured meetings explode into rage-fests.<\/p>\n<p>Tulip poops and pees on the walk!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0242.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4380\" title=\"IMG_0242\" src=\"http:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0242-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0242-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0242-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0242-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/IMG_0242.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/?p=4404\">The Foster Chronicles: Tulip, Week 6, Days 1-3<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Day 4 I&#8217;m so tired and so sore, from work and from workouts. I decide to take the dogs on the shorter loop. As I leash up Redford and Violet, Tulip worries (as usual) that I might not take her this time (even though I always take her). Half an hour later, at the back &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/22\/the-foster-chronicles-tulip-week-4-days-4-7\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Foster Chronicles: Tulip, Week 5, Days 4-7<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animules","category-first-world-problems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4360"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5342,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4360\/revisions\/5342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}