If it weren't stressful and chaotic, it would be someone else's life.

Thanksgiving started out as a nice quiet day. Over the meadow and through the woods, etc. Off to my mom's for the day. No cooking, no cleaning... just Rog, Ryan, the 2 dogs and me, off to Grandma's.
Well, I still don't know what provoked it, but Savannah (the boxer) attacked Cinnamon (the chihuahua). It was so awful. One minute they were fine--Savannah was lying on her bed and Cinnamon was just wandering around. The next minute, Savannah had Cinnamon by the head and was shaking her like a rag doll. I screamed and yelled and Savannah dropped her, but before I could get to Cinnamon, Savannah got her again. OMG. It all happened in an INSTANT. Anyhow, Cinnamon's head immediately started swelling up and she had a grand mal seizure. Rog and I jumped in the car with the phone book and headed off, calling the emergency vet's office from the car to get directions. When we arrived at the vet's, they immediately took her in and gave her manitol (sp?) to relieve the swelling. Fortunately, Cinnamon still has an open fontanel on the top of her head which allowed her brain to swell with less pressure. I should probably inject here the fact that a similar occurance happened 2 years ago on Christmas Day. But that time, Savannah had been sedated and while still groggy, Cinnamon walked up into her face and Savannah just pounced. Cinnamon's skull was fractured. It was a nightmare, but we thought it happened because Savannah was groggy and didn't know what was in front of her. We also thought it was an isolated freaky sort of thing and would never happen again. These 2 dogs have lived together as best buddies for over 6 1/2 years.
Anyhow, Cinnamon had to stay in the hospital down near my mom's, which is over 100 miles from home. Of course, we did not have her seizure meds with us (she already had a seizure disorder) so Roger had to drive all the way home to get it, bring it all the way back down there and then drive all of us home that night. Cinnamon stayed down there. Then on Friday he had to go back down there to pick her up and bring her to the hospital up here.
Cinnamon is now home and doing quite well. She has a drain in the top of her head that hopefully will be removed this afternoon, and she has considerable swelling and bruising on either side of her face. But she's alive and seems to have suffered no brain damage.
I'm dealing with a considerable amount of guilt even though 4 different vets have told me it wasn't my fault. I already know that, but I just feel so awful that this poor little dog has had to go through this--TWICE. All 4 vets told me that when you have multiple dogs in a home, they will occasionally have a squabble. If the dogs are of equal size, it's no big deal. They usually just work it out between them and then it's over. But when you have a 60 lb. dog and a 6 lb. dog, THEN it's a problem. Yes, I know this makes sense, but I feel horrible just the same. I will never allow these 2 dogs to be in the same room again unless Savannah is muzzled. They have never been left together without someone with them, but this incident--and the last one--happened while we were right there.
So the lesson here is: If you own multiple dogs, even if they are the sweetest, most gentle lovable animals in the world, be aware that anything can happen at any time.
We have learned also that the hectic holiday season is NOT the time to include both of them in our plans.