Saving Bella

Anyone who walks a dog, particularly a large breed, knowing the dog to be unpredictably violent and who takes no steps to avoid a confrontation because it is inconveniently intrusive on their right to do as they wish in public, demonstrates an abysmal lack of civil intelligence. Good enough reason for others who have dogs that are small and friendly, to ensure that they always walk their own on leashes to enable them to have control, even if others who really need to control their dogs, do not.

This, evidently, didn't occur to Bruce Simpson when he was walking Bella, his 17-month-old Miniature Schnauzer-Yorkshire Terrier at 5:30 in the early evening on Friday at the NCC Experimental Farm. Dogs and their people are given ample instruction through signage that they are expected to control their behaviour; the owners through the expedience of leashing their pets.

Mr. Simpson and Bella, wandering through the Farm's corn and bean fields on Friday happened to come across a woman with a German shepherd mix whose personality was not a pleasant one. Before either Mr. Simpson or the woman could react, to take proactive measures to leash their respective pets, the large dog attacked the small one. It was a case of some 70 pounds of snarling fury leaping upon a little ball of fur weighing under 14 pounds.

Mr. Simpson leaped toward the two dogs to attempt to separate the Shepherd from his Bella, and the woman in the process was able to place her dog on its leash. "I was just screaming at her, very upset", he said, describing the angry exchange, while he was dialling 911. "She was saying, 'I didn't know anyone was here. I came because I didn't expect anybody else to be around'",l he said.

With the implicit message that there was a darn good reason why she might not want anyone else around; a matter of allowing her undisciplined and aggressive dog to enjoy a runabout without the nuisance of anyone else being present to spoil that opportunity. One might have thought that Bella's owner would be more concerned with her physical condition after being mauled, than shouting accusation at a woman who as it turned out, refused to accept responsibility.

She left, with her dog, and he snapped a photograph of her in retreat on his cellphone. And then he turned to Bella, and Bella was no longer there. And he could see her nowhere. The 911 operator had instructed Mr. Simpson to await the arrival of police, and then he noticed a voice-mail message on his cellphone. From a medic with the Ottawa Paramedic Service. Informing him that Bella was in good hands. Quick work, that.

Bella had made her way, in pain, through the corn field, across six lanes of rush-hour traffic and into the Civic Hospital's emergency department where the chief of the paramedic service saw her: "The dog came running up and kind of looked like it was in distress. Tail between the legs and sort of this 'I'm scared' look on her face. She was terrified." Keith Buchanan, superintendent of operations, administered first aid, wrapped her in a towel.

Paramedic Keith Buchanan holds Bella the dog, moments after she she made her way to the Civic campus’ emergency room after being attacked by another dog in the Experimental Farm, Sept. 27, 2013. Paramedics administered First Aid and contacted Bella’s owner, Bruce Simpson, who had been frantically searching the farm for his dog.  Photograph by: Keith Buchanan

Bella's dog tag had her owners' cellphone numbers and they were called to be informed the paramedic service had Bella in their care. They then drove her and her owner to the Ottawa Veterinary Hospital on Boyd Avenue where Bella underwent three hours of surgery to stitch her together. She was released a day later.

"We're pretty crazy about our dog. She's like a child to us. She has a great personality. She's a real dog dog. She always looks like she's smiling. Everyone's just entranced by her, because she's pretty cute", said Mr. Simpson.

After being attacked by a much larger dog, Bella somehow knew to make her way from the Experimental Farm across busy Carling Avenue to the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital’s Emergency Room, where paramedics discovered her and administered First Aid.  Photograph by: Cole Burston, Ottawa Citizen

She wasn't smiling on Friday. "I just don't want it to happen to somebody else", said Bruce Simpson.