"I've got a tourist here, he's just been bitten by a dog!"
I was walking back to the hostel in Cairns one fine August afternoon, past the dilapidated old house on the corner of McLeod Street and Charles Street. There were two Rhodesian ridgebacks play-fighting outside.

I like dogs. I've always got on well with them. When I was getting my vaccinations, I was offered the chance to get a rabies shot, and my exact words were "come on, I'm not going to get bitten by a dog".

The dogs noticed me passing a few metres away from them, and abruptly stopped their game. One of them leapt to its feet, emitted one solitary bark, and ran towards me. I was slightly nonplussed as it fastened its jaw around my left shin. I distinctly remember the thought that was going through my head: "I cannot believe I am being bitten by a dog!"

I was more than a little disoriented by this turn of events, especially since the dog had backed off and launched itself for another strike, as his friend watched. So I did something unwise.

I turned around and started to move away at speed. This did obviously disorient the dog, because only one tooth hit the target. The target was my left buttock, and the tooth went straight through my shorts and created an interesting new hole in my arse.

I turned to face the dogs again. By this stage they had started to back off. Luckily for me, a white van pulled off the road and placed himself between me and the animals.

"You all right, mate?" shouted the man in the van as he pulled out a mobile phone.

I replied that I was fine, just a little shaken up. I looked down and saw that the bite on my leg was hardly bleeding, the teeth had broken the skin but not much more. I was about to make a comment about what a wimp the dog was when I realised that the back of my shorts was soaked in blood.

"Can't have our tourists being bitten by dogs," exclaimed the man as he punched a number into his mobile. "Hello, is that animal control? I've got a tourist here, he's just been bitten by a dog!"

So at 7am the next day I gave a statement to the local animal constabulary. The gentleman in the house in question apparently used to have about five dogs, but at least two had been taken away. I was told that they had a huge file on the dog, but this was the first time it had bitten anyone.

I left Cairns on a pre-arranged bus at 8am, and never heard anything about what happened after that. From what I was told, though, I suspect the dogs were taken away for... re-education.

[not-very-impressive photo of leg bite]
( The Hedgehog From Hell is fluff personified, Sun 27 Apr 2008, 13:17, closed)

Hahah,
re-educanine camps.
( ClanSoul http://www.clansoul.com/updates/, Sun 27 Apr 2008, 16:24, closed)