Discretion versus Being a Terrier

Azza agrees with Falstaff that “the better part of valor is discretion.” The dogs and I had quite an adventure this morning. We weren’t even a third of the way along our usual walking route when we were attacked by a small grey feral cat.

I haven’t seen a feral cat in months (other than the one in the empty house a couple of weeks ago). Reports of missing pet cats have been coming across the email chains every few days for some weeks now. Even we dog owners have been on high alert since the beginning of the year. The reason for all of this? Two packs of feral dogs have staked out territories on camp and they are killing cats and stalking dogs.

The dogs have not yet attacked a person but they have attacked cats and small dogs in front of witnesses, who are not always able to successfully intervene.

I encountered the western pack, a group of five to seven light colored dogs that look a lot like Azza, back in January in the jebels. I had all three dogs with me. The pack split up and tried to surround us. I picked up Harry and Azza (she was just about 10 weeks old then and much smaller) and, dragging Mimi the entire way, managed to make it about half a mile back to the car. Mimi was ready to take them all on. I was terrified. I haven’t been back to the jebels since.

About a month later, in the pre-dawn dark, I encountered the same pack several mornings in a row in my area of the cluster housing ghetto. I managed to get the dogs back home after one very close encounter but the pack followed us all the way to my gate. I stopped walking the dogs in the mornings for about a month and then switched around my schedule so that I took them out only after the sun was up. That’s not much of a comfort zone since the dog packs hunt well into the mid-morning, but the hope is that I can spot them sooner.

My experiences are not isolated ones. Many of my dog friends who live in the cluster housing ghetto reported being followed or threatened by the same pack all throughout the spring. Having a larger dog doesn’t appear to be any protection. Many group emails were sent, many complaints were made to Aramco but very little effective steps were taken to deal with the dogs. (IMO, this is because no Saudis were complaining.)

To turn the narrative corner, any feral cats that are left have certainly had some interaction with the wild dog packs by now and so are on edge and on alert. Otherwise they’d already be dead.

So this morning the three dogs and I were quietly walking along the path next to the golf course, all of us enjoying the early morning cool (relative since it has hit 118 F here the past couple of days so cool mornings mean about 88 F), when suddenly the grey cat darted out of a hedge and ran right for the dogs.

I started yelling (profanity of course, what else?) and tried to drag the dogs away. Quite predictably I tripped on the leashes and fell down hard. When I fell, I dropped Azza’s leash but she only moved a few feet away from the squalling mess that was Mimi and the cat and warily watched the proceedings from a safe distance. Harry was sort of milling around the edge but he never got involved. He may not have figured out what was happening until it was over; his sight and hearing are not what they used to be. I pulled Mimi away but that fucking enraged cat charged at her again. I finally screamed and scrambled and dragged Mimi and Harry off the path where I could grab rocks and throw them at the cat who finally gave up the attack. Azza came right to me when I called her (thank god for lots of positive reinforcement).

I picked up Mimi and carried her nearly all the way back home. She had another ear bite, on the other ear as (bad) luck would have it, and was flinging blood all over the place with every shake of her head. This bite was more serious and required a liberal application of KwikStop (after a bath and cleaning of wounds of course).

I’m pretty sure the cat was not rabid (rabies is mostly confined to the fox population here and they have also been decimated or chased out by the wild dogs). The cat was stressed and very angry but not sick. Certainly his behavior was aggressive but logical given the situation.

Mimi was truly defending herself as we were all taken by surprise by the cat. But she is a tough little terrier and jumped into the fray without hesitation. I love her for that essential terrier-ness. But even if Azza's behavior was driven by fear, the fact that she chose discretion certainly is a point in her favor as well.