They Want To Eat Us

My sister-in-law was visiting us yesterday evening, and she brought along her little maltese beastie to play with us. My son loves the dog, and while I do think it is an Insane Thing, I generally enjoy its company.

Anyway, we're all sitting around socializing (I know, try to suspend your disbelief) when the dog comes up and starts licking my shin. I'm in shorts, so it is, in fact, licking my flesh.

Now most of you who have spent any time with dogs know that this sort of thing is fairly normal, and is usually just their way of saying hello, so I just gave it a pat on the head and ignored it. But then, see, the licking became obsessive. I pushed the dog away, and it came right back.

It was at this point that I examined my leg to see if I had honey or milk or kibble smeared on it. I didn't, but I was reminded that, for one reason or another, I have two scabbed wounds on my right shin. How I got them isn't really important. They are small, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and scratching off the scabs produces more blood seepage than you might think. I had, in fact, staunched such seepage an hour earlier.

Or I thought I had.

I was bleeding again, a little, and that was what the dog was after. My blood. This animal was feeding on me.

Not that I'm threatened by an 8 ounce predator, but still. There's something unsettling about anything drinking your blood from an open wound. And now it's got a taste for blood.

I mentioned this to my wife later, and she said, "You know, there are those stories about household dogs who taste some blood and then are discovered to have eaten the family baby."

...so you see, it's not just me that's this way.

Comments

[Lizzy]

Be careful. This story reminds me of 'Little Shop of Horrors'. A little blood is just the beginning. It then starts to want bigger helpings.

[anonymous]

Maybe the Maltese needs a visit from the Dog Whisperer.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/dogwhisperer/

heh

[Marcus Aurileus]

You now have but one option.

You must eat it first.

[Emilyf]

That's why I hate female mosquitoes