I have just received some fantastic news about Stryker.

Brian called to tell me he had received a call from the police officer in charge of their case.

It turns out that the CPS will not be pressing charges and Stryker no longer needs to be muzzled when he is out with Brian.

Brian is "over the moon" and who can blame him?

For the last couple of months Brian has been waiting to see if the CPS will bring charges against him under the Dangerous Dogs Act and have Stryker destroyed.

It has been a worrying time for him and the stress has really has affected his health. Afterall, Stryker is the centre of his world and Brian faced the possibility of losing his "Best friend".

I am really pleased for both of them. It was an unpleasant situation that dragged on for far too long.

But I still don't understand why Stryker was kept from Brian for 19 days?

Brian said that Stryker was withdrawn after his time in the kennels and he had to be treated by a vet for a skin condition following his stay.

At least now they can get on with the rest of their lives together without a death sentence hanging over their heads.

All this...because of a dog fight.

I have just experienced something similar with my dog, Pepper.

She was off the lead as we headed to the park for a walk. Unfortunately, two Staffies came out of a house and attacked her. She stood her ground and fought back. The owner and I managed to seperate the dogs and I took Pepper home to check her over.

It turned out that she had been bitten on both her front legs and one was quite swollen, but she seemed fine otherwise. I had also managed to hurt my right hand and put an ice pack on it for the rest of the evening.

The following day I took Pepper to the vets again! She was given tablets for 5 days. Another vet bill!

I also went to my doctors and it turned out I had strained the ligaments in my hand. So I was given medication too.

While I don't blame the owner for what happened, she seems to think it is my fault that one her dogs needed treatment at the vets?

I do know that had both of her dogs had collars on, we could have broken up the fight quicker and I wouldn't have injured my hand in the process, and maybe our dogs would not have been injured.

It just goes to show that dogs are unpredictable and that all owners must always be on their guard.

It does not mean, though, that just one owner should take the blame.

Afterall...it takes two to tango and... two dogs (or more) to have a dog fight!

In other words, don't keep a dog unless you are able to take some of the blame when there is an incident and if you get hurt, accept it is as much your fault as the other owners.

The Dangerous Dog Act is only to protect humans from out-of-control dogs, not to protect dogs from dogs.

While our dogs do bring us so much joy, most owners will find themselves in a similar situation at some time.

Unfortunately...it is the nature of the beast.