My Dog Was Attacked by a Pumpkin

Each year Kindred Spirits Canine Education Center hosts a Halloween Party. We have costume contests for best dog costume, best dog and owner, best family or group costume, and more. We also have a trick contest. This is our 18th year hosting the party and it's a fund raiser for the local therapy dog group and for our service dog training program. We have great fun, a lot of wonderful dogs and owners, and we get to raise some money for some wonderful dogs.

This year the party was on October 27th so was the week of the horrible wild fires here in San Diego county, but we didn't want to cancel the party - we felt everyone deserved some diversion. As it turned out, the party was wonderful and we had a great time.

Sunday I went to our training yard (where we held the party) to do some clean up. Just pick up paper plates, pick up decorations and all that stuff you need to do after a party. I brought Bashir and Riker, my Australian Shepherds, with me.

As I was cleaning up, I loaded up one of our wagons with pumpkins. We plant a garden every year and this year we grew three dozen large, 30 to 60 pound pumpkins, and they were a part of our Halloween decorations. Our training yard has a slight slope to it and as I was pulling the wagon up the hill, one of the larger pumpkins fell off the back of the wagon. This was a nice round pumpkin with no flat spots so it rolled very nicely.

Bashir, my three year old Aussie, had his back to me and the wagon, and so his back was also turned to the pumpkin. Obviously he was engrossed in an interesting smell in the grass because he didn't hear the pumpkin, eithor. Just as I was going to yell at him, the pumpkin hit him in the back legs.

Poor Bashir leaped five feet in the air with a "Yipe!" and landed a good six feet from his original position. He looked around to see who had attacked him but the only thing there was this big pumpkin! He looked, turned around, sniffed, and finally decided that pumpkin must be the attacker. He leaned forward, sniffed cautiously, with legs poised so he could jump out of the way again should this dangerous orange thing attack again.

Now that I could see he wasn't hurt, I was trying very hard not to laugh. Poor Bashir was shook up; he didn't need me laughing at him! But it was quite funny.

However, I took pity on the poor dog. I went down, grabbed that dangerous pumpkin and broke it up to feed it to the geese. Then Bashir finally relaxed. But he did watch all the pumpkins cautiously for the rest of the day.

Liz