Annabelle3117's Journal, 22 September 2014

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a better weekend than I did. Still trying to recover emotionally from the bad day I had Saturday. I will take it from the top.

Friday was a normal day. My daughter decided to spend the weekend with her father, first time in about a month since she's seen him. My husband and I made arrangements for my mom to keep our son Saturday night so we could have a date night, so it was looking like a pretty good weekend. Saturday my husband and I took our son to a fall festival. Walked through a corn maze, went on a hayride, I got stung by a hornet, all in all not too bad of a time lol. As we were heading home to get ready for date night I got a call from Cassidy's dad, we will call him 'dipshit'. At first it was difficult to hear what he was saying as Cass was screaming bloody murder in the background, but eventually I made out that she had been bitten by a dog. I asked whose dog it was, it was his ex wife's dog. I told him to take her to the ER, and I met them there.

It was when they arrived at the hospital that I found out that Cassidy had not just been bitten, she had been viciously attacked and was bitten in the head by a pit bull. She got lucky, it could have been so much worse. My understanding of the story is that dipshit had taken Cass to his ex wife's house because there was an issue with his youngest daughter, and him and his ex were going to take her to the hospital and leave Cassidy there with his ex MIL. Right before they left the pit bull jumped on Cass, she pushed it away, then it circled around and jumped on her from behind bringing her to her knees then it grabbed her by the ear/face and was pulling at her. Cass told me the dog was on top of her like she was giving it a piggy back ride. The dog was growling/snarling, and had to be physically pulled off of my daughter. Her injuries were open scratches on her shoulder, a laceration behind her ear, and bruising/teeth marks on her temples. It could have gotten her eye, or it could have ripped off her ear. Cassidy did nothing to provoke this dog, she is ten she has been around dogs her entire life, she knows how to treat them. She had been around that particular dog off and on since it was a pup. She was just sitting on the couch when the dog charged at her. He father told me in the hospital "I don't know, that dog just never really liked Cassidy". Are you F'n serious?!?! So you knew, but let it happen??

Needless to say we had filed a police report. The officer was familiar with the residence where this occurred, she actually said she was there the day prior. (Imagine that) The dog has been quarantined, and if I have it my way it will be destroyed. I want charges pressed against Jason and his ex wife (they are legally still married) because I feel they are negligent and should be held responsible. They have four other kids living in that house, three of which are ages 5 and under, and two other dogs aside from the one that has been taken. On top of that this is not the first issue I have had with them. A few years ago Cassidy came home from her father's covered from head to toe with flea bites and ringworm. Then I spent 1500 on attorney and court fees because they bought a boa constrictor (my daughter is terrified of snakes) and had live rats running amok when they escaped from the box they were kept in. She stepped on a nail while with them and came home with an infected foot because they didn't think it was doctor visit worthy. This is the last straw. I have spent thousands on court and attorneys fighting over his incompetence as a parent and I am so done it's not even funny. I will be calling the law director and anyone else I can get ahold of. Oh, and on top of all that after she was bit instead of taking her straight to the ER he took her to my house!! I wasn't home, and that's when he called. Really?!?! She gets attacked by your freakin dog and you just want to drop her off at home and be done with it?!?! Told you he was a dipshit.

My daughter is going to be fine physically, and I am so grateful for that. I realize it was a close call, could have been her eye, could have been her ear, or lord it could have gotten her neck. She is shaken, to say the least, and I worry that this will leave her traumatized and afraid of dogs for the rest of her life. She is good right now with our family dog, Hoss. I think if anything his presence is comforting to her. It's like he knows, and he is trying so hard to make her feel better. I can't imagine how terrifying of an ordeal that had to have been for her, to have a dog on your head biting you. It blows my mind. Someone should be held responsible for that, especially when they knew the dog didn't like Cassidy. My poor poor baby girl :(

It has been an emotionally straining weekend, and I strived to keep it positive and light as much as possible for my daughters sake. As soon as the kids got off to school this morning I crashed, though. Laying in bed, just exhausted and lots of anxiety. I think I'm entitled to it. Some times there is so much to do that you can't find it in you to do anything at all. I often feel that way. Going to take the day "off" as much as I can, and quit beating myself up for things beyond my control. As a mom you feel like you should have been there, like you should have been able to stop it. If I had been I can assure you there wouldn't have been a live dog to quarantine.

I have always kept an open mind about dog breeds, and was avidly against the labeling of specific breeds as 'vicious dogs'. Just recently in Ohio pit bulls were removed from the vicious dog list, and I supported that whole heartedly. I even promoted it on my facebook page. Now I just don't know where I stand. I had never heard of anyone being attacked by a dog. Okay, sure some people got bit here and there throughout my life. A nip in the hand or butt, but a dog going straight for a child's face with vicious intent, completely unprovoked. It just blows me away. I'll never get an answer for the 'why'. It was my little girl, that's hard to swallow. I am very grateful though, somebody was watching out for her.

Thanks for reading through the ramble as I still struggle to sort this all out in my own head. Hoping to get over the hump and back on track with my weight loss goals as we get further into the week. The sooner my daughter is back to normal the better I'll be.

Hope everyone is well, and have a good day!