Well, we have moved into a new neighborhood and I must admit, Gus has
adapted wonderfully.
He has a huge yard but it isn't fenced just yet. So for now we have his
cable attached to the clothes line, so he can go the entire length of the
yard and back. He loves it.
I don't leave him out by himslef. I always go with him. And I am glad for
that habit after this morning's incident.
There is a dog that often runs loose here. Everyone has tried speaking to
the owner and animal control has been there several times but this guy
insists on letting his dog run free. That wouldn't be a problem except that
this is a fairly large dog who really doesn't like other dogs much at all.
Apparently he has attacked other dogs in the neighborhood in the past.

He was out and about this morning and spotted Gus out in the yard before I
spotted him. He made a beeline straight for Gus. His shackles were up and he
was baring his teeth and growling the entire time he approached. I ditched
my coffee and called Gus to me. He came right away but this other dog got a
hold of his back end and would not let go. I was about 40 feet away at this
point with Gus still coming towards me. My main concern was keeping Gus from
retaliating and having this thing escalate into an awful mess.
I kept repeating "Gus, come here please" over and over and incredibly he
kept his eyes on me and paid little attention to the dog attached by the
teeth to his arse end. He was growling and yelping but kept his focus in my
direction and kept moving. Anytime he redirected his attention to the other
dog, I said "out" and repeated the "come here please".

Once they got close enough to me, I had no idea what to do to stop this and
not get injured myself. The other dog never released his grip on Gus and was
starting to shake his head from side to side. I grabbed the hose and sprayed
the other dog full in the face until he let go and continued to spray him
until I could get the door open and Gus and I went through. The other dog
tried to come through with us but I got the door closed. So then I was
inside with water all over the floor and poor Gus still maintaining eye
contact with me. I was shaking like a leaf. And he's looking at me like
"Hey, what do you want me to do next mom?"

It turns out, he has a couple tiny puncture wounds and one small scratch and
lots of goopy spit from the other dog but nothing too serious. No stitches
required, just keep it clean until it heals.

The fence will become a priority now. It wasn't before because Gus isn't a
runner. He always stays quite close to me no matter where we are or whats
going on but now, I want it for his safety.

Thank you for letting me rattle on about this. It really did scare the
beejeebies out of me. Gus is only about 35lbs and the other guy is closer to
100lbs so I thought for sure Gus' goose was cooked.

I am waiting now for animal control to call me back about this one.