The view from our back porch towards the two privacy fences separating us.

It was Monday morning and I was working in the office at the Sullivan House. I heard a very bad noise – something like high-pitched yelling mixed with dog screeching. I walked out on the back porch where I found Brian and Nicole looking with concern toward our neighbor’s house two doors down. Joe was in his yard next door looking in the same direction and asked loudly, “Do you need help?” The reply was a mixture of more horrible noises but I caught the word ‘help’ in there.

Brian, Nicole, and Joe all started a fast walk to the front of the houses. I looked at the two privacy fences separating us and thought, “Sure why not,” and off I went. I jumped from the porch onto the first fence, eyeing Joe’s large dog Misty. “Hope she’s as friendly as I think!” I thought as I jumped into Joe’s yard and ran across it. Misty just watched. I jumped and grabbed the top of the next privacy fence and vaulted over the top. As I hit the top, I saw a woman restraining a pit bull to keep it away from a small beagle. She was frantic and yelling barely coherently. “Well, hope I don’t get mauled!” I thought without pausing and into the yard I plunged.

“Please get the beagle away!” she yelled as the pit bull wrenched free from her arms and ran at the beagle, which was clearly already wounded. “NO! STAY!” I bellowed at the pit bull, who, surprisingly, stopped and looked at me for a moment as if listening, before returning its attention to the beagle. Unfortunately the beagle was scared by my yelling and was having no part in being corralled. I eventually got the beagle (Tallulah) scooped up as the woman (Julie) managed to push the pit bull (Samosa) away long enough for me to escape the yard. Brian and Nicole were there by then and helped contain Samosa. I sat and held Tallulah while Julie calmed down and collected her car keys so we could take her to the vet down the street.

Tallulah appeared to have a deep wound on her shoulder and another on her ear. My hand holding her was covered in blood. And she pooped on me. Brian cleaned it off me as best he could with a paper towel before I climbed in the car and off we went.

Julie’s boyfriend Andy met us there and together they took her to another nearby vet clinic for the necessary stitches (the closer vet was closing imminently). Luckily, her larger wound was mostly superficial: it was just skin that was ripped loose without deeper damage. The wound under her ear was deep but not likely a major problem.

It was an unexpected attack. Apparently the two dogs have long known each other and always been friendly. Samosa (the aggressor) never showed any aggression to us human interlopers as we got Tallulah out of the yard.

As I walked Rocky by their house yesterday, Andy called out from the front porch “Lincoln, I love you! Thank you for taking the opportunity to be a hero.” Dawwwwww. I just like jumping fences. That’s a helluva way to meet your neighbors. And it was a helluva second day living in Detroit.