I've just got back from a walk in one of my local woodlands in a profound state of shock, and I'm very conflicted about what's just happened to me and Molly, my springer spaniel...................
The story so far:
Whilst wandering about in some Beech woods near where I live, I noticed some tents in one of the glades and Molly ran across to them; we were greeted in a very friendly manner by a few people around them and offered a cup of tea which I accepted, and sat with the half dozen or so people who were about. These were obviously inexperienced campers as there was food lying around in half-open packets on the ground, the fire was very amateurish, and I was given my tea in a rinsed out yogurt pot; nothing wrong with that, and after a few minutes of general chat I asked what they were doing and was told that they are the advance party of a gathering of
up to three or four hundred "Rainbow Gatherers" who were coming there for a month or so to celebrate the Summer Solstice, and they intend to build a main fire pit, a kitchen and admin area and what they described as s**t pits at the far end of the glade................I couldn't believe my ears; as I say, there was nobody amongst them that appeared to have the faintest notion of how to go about such a task, no tools or equipment and no permission to be there at all. I was gobsmacked by the naivety (sp) of it all, not to mention the obvious ineptitude, but I held my tongue meaning to talk a bit more and see if I'd understood properly what I'd been told.
About half an hour into this chat, two more guys arrived with a huge dog, and they were also very friendly and polite, and when I asked about the dog was assured that he was fine with other dogs. Turns out he's a Great Dane crossed with a Rotty, two years old and not neutered and had been rescued by one of those present. He's huge, as you can imagine, and went over to Molly and seemed to be quite steady and not at all bothered in any way, and Molly gave him the usual sniff at both ends then wandered off to do her own stuff, this is her back yard and she knows every inch of it but is quite happy to share it with both other dogs and humans.
As the chap who had rescued the dog was talking to me, this giant of a thing launched himself at Molly, rolled her bout across the clearing and then tore a chunk from her chest half the size of my hand. Between myself
and another guy nearby we managed to get him off her but he's injured her badly, and I'm very worried about the psycholgical affect this will have on her with other dogs; this was a savage attack and it shocked her to the core.................the wound will wait for first thing tomorrow at the vets for stitching and will heal quickly, but who knows about the lasting effects of this on her?
I don't really know how to proceed further with this, if these people carry on with their plan they're going to wreck a very lovely bit of Beech wood in more ways than one, but how do I act?
Any thoughts?, I seem to still be in some shock over this.
The story so far:
Whilst wandering about in some Beech woods near where I live, I noticed some tents in one of the glades and Molly ran across to them; we were greeted in a very friendly manner by a few people around them and offered a cup of tea which I accepted, and sat with the half dozen or so people who were about. These were obviously inexperienced campers as there was food lying around in half-open packets on the ground, the fire was very amateurish, and I was given my tea in a rinsed out yogurt pot; nothing wrong with that, and after a few minutes of general chat I asked what they were doing and was told that they are the advance party of a gathering of
up to three or four hundred "Rainbow Gatherers" who were coming there for a month or so to celebrate the Summer Solstice, and they intend to build a main fire pit, a kitchen and admin area and what they described as s**t pits at the far end of the glade................I couldn't believe my ears; as I say, there was nobody amongst them that appeared to have the faintest notion of how to go about such a task, no tools or equipment and no permission to be there at all. I was gobsmacked by the naivety (sp) of it all, not to mention the obvious ineptitude, but I held my tongue meaning to talk a bit more and see if I'd understood properly what I'd been told.
About half an hour into this chat, two more guys arrived with a huge dog, and they were also very friendly and polite, and when I asked about the dog was assured that he was fine with other dogs. Turns out he's a Great Dane crossed with a Rotty, two years old and not neutered and had been rescued by one of those present. He's huge, as you can imagine, and went over to Molly and seemed to be quite steady and not at all bothered in any way, and Molly gave him the usual sniff at both ends then wandered off to do her own stuff, this is her back yard and she knows every inch of it but is quite happy to share it with both other dogs and humans.
As the chap who had rescued the dog was talking to me, this giant of a thing launched himself at Molly, rolled her bout across the clearing and then tore a chunk from her chest half the size of my hand. Between myself
and another guy nearby we managed to get him off her but he's injured her badly, and I'm very worried about the psycholgical affect this will have on her with other dogs; this was a savage attack and it shocked her to the core.................the wound will wait for first thing tomorrow at the vets for stitching and will heal quickly, but who knows about the lasting effects of this on her?
I don't really know how to proceed further with this, if these people carry on with their plan they're going to wreck a very lovely bit of Beech wood in more ways than one, but how do I act?
Any thoughts?, I seem to still be in some shock over this.
