I don’t think I will trust even the cutest dog anymore. It was during the parade in memory of the Second World War at San Giusto di Brancoli that I found myself next to this gorgeous animal.
I thought its hairy mane was somewhat lion-like. I found out that this shepherd-dog’s name was indeed Leo.
Leo’s owner was not next to him when it happened. I must have done something to provoke the dog who was on a lead tied to the bench where I was sitting. I’d bent down, looked at Leo, then suddenly felt a sharp pain. Leo had bounced up and bit me on the lips. I yelled! The response was quick. I was quickly attended to by some of those at the event. In fact a WW2 German soldier administered first aid to me.
The emergency services were called for by this time I was loosing blood. They came within ten minutes and attended me pronto!
‘We should take you to hospital with the ambulance.’ they said. ‘No thankyou’ I answered. ‘I really don’t want to leave my car and husband here.’
So I found my way to Ponte a Moriano’s ‘Croce Verde’ by myself
‘You must go to the emergency at the hospital’. I was again told. So in our car we reached San Luca. In a remarkably short space of time, which would have been the envy of the UK NHS, I was seen and had a couple of stitches put in where Leo had bit me.
My family doctor had since removed my stitches.
Everyone tells me how lucky I’ve been for things could have been far worse. However, I now know never to trust anyone, including a dog, however cute it might look!
(Goya. Dogs on a lead. 1786)
It was a great day till Leo struck out however the dynamic of the situation is as follows. I saw this beautiful sheep dog normally black an white this was in my view a most beautiful creature seemed to me a miniature lion golden colour in fact his name is Leo. We were there to honour Ivan Houston’ s memory whom we met in 2019 his family had kindly sent various medals and other memorabilia to add to the Museum’s collection at San Giusto di Brancoli. There was a good turnout despite the weather. Various historical reenactment groups German American English and Italian soldiers donning their respective uniforms as well as civilians of the period in costume. Leo was a calm adorable dog and let himself be petted by me and others with the permission of the owner who was busy photographing this unique event. Meanwhile his leash got tangled a lady to my right tried to help Leo by untangling him but pulled his leash I reassured Leo and tried too but I believe that Leo thought I had tugged at his leash and tried to take it out on me unjustifiably so! It all happened unexpectedly and in a flash I reacted too as I screamed out in fright pain and then the drama unfolded as blood spurted out from my wounds Leo luckily released his grip which saved the day as his bite did not perforate my lip fully as luck would have it! I had great assistance from various Red Cross Volunteers disinfectant to flush out my wounds pressing down on my upper lip to stem the blood flow as well as steri strips which acted as stitches (the various Doctors that saw me subsequently praised their exacting work but at the hospital curiously stated a dog bite did not need an ambulance! This I feel depends on the bite! Anyway I drive myself so as not to leave Francis on foot or cause others who volunteered to take us to the hospital.)After triage a couple of places Croce Verde then Hospital I was seen in a confused situation with a screaming swearing lady who wanted to leave without being attended to I saw a ginormous syringe prepared I thought maybe to anaethsetise my upper lip in preparation for stitches one for each dog tooth puncture but thankfully it was not for me as stitches were administered on each wound to be removed after a week! What a relief! However I am in cahoots with this situation as it was really not my fault poor Leo I was told by the Doctor not to pet dogs maybe good advice but clearly to me that was an anachronism as the evening before I had saved a beautiful hunting dog that got lost after a days hunting with several a pack in fact of other hunting dogs that I met. Bufera even had a radio collar as well as a yellow collar which later I saw his owner’s number and called. As we drove home it was getting dark I saw Bufera wandering aimlessly and called out Billie are you ok. The dog followed our car I was in a quandary as to know what to do he looked tired and quite lost. I stopped a car and asked if they knew this dig then it was suggested I take him home and put his whereabouts on Facebook we did just that I opened the door and he jumped in the back quite calmly and settled there! Now my dilemma what to do arriving home as we have cats in fact luckily as it was raining they were safely indoors so the dog was safely put into the capanna where he settled. Luckily I saw the number on his collar and immediately phoned his owner obviously the radio unit had not worked so a good deed for the day was accomplished as poor Bufera could well have been injured on the road as it was dark and car lights could well have dazzled this poor tired confused lost creature. Anyway all’s well that ends well! But I cannot fully understand the meaning of these odd events!