Izzo, our course dog, is a frequent character highlighted in the blog. She has more excitement in her life than you might imagine, some good and some not so pleasant. Today I have a story that fits the latter half.

In mid-January of this year, I drove out on the course with some staff members and encountered a very friendly pit bull. He was obviously well cared for, but had become lost the night before and found his way inside our gates. I took him to the vet to check for an ID chip, but had no luck. I proceeded to post the finding in the local paper, the ASPCA, and two different websites.

I took this dog home with me that night and he stayed in my garage. I didn't want to call the pound because pit bulls do not last very long once they arrive. I've heard 7-14 days is about the maximum lodging until they are euthanized due to over population and their very aggressive nature.

We returned to the course the next morning and sought shelter from the rain inside the office. I did my best to keep Izzo away from our temporary pet because she does not like other dogs, whether they are aggressive or not. She was probably living on the street for a little while before she was brought to the course and may have had to fight for food. The shop is her domain and another dog does not belong.

She came walking into the office that morning and the pit bull headed around the desk to meet her. I got up and tried to intervene before they got face-to-face, but I was too late. The pit bull was whining and went up playfully and Izzo responded by biting him on the nose. A switch went off in that pit bull's head and he had Izzo by the neck in a split second.

First, I tried to pull him off which was a waste of time, then I resorted to kicking the dog, another waste of time. I proceeded to straddle the pit bull and punch the top of his head as hard as I could. Left, right, left, right with Izzo screaming a sound that shouldn't come out of a dog. All of this probably took 15 seconds.

By then Mike, our assistant at the time, and Gary the Equipment Manager had made it to the office to help out. Gary, in a stroke of genius, grabbed a club from my bag and started laying it into the head of this pit bull. Mike did his best to hold Izzo is one place and I continued to straddle the pit bull. Gary missed a few times, hitting the floor and my ankle bone (wow, that took a long time to heal), but he mainly hit the dog's forehead and barely shook him. Finally, he let go and Izzo crumbled to the floor and appeared seconds from death.

I scooped her up and headed to the same vet I visited the day before. I was sure she was going to pass before I got there, but halfway down the road, she rolled on her side and raised a paw so I could scratch her belly. Luckily, the pit bull only got his jaws around the fleshy portion of her neck and choked her out without any major damage. She spent the night at the vet and returned the next day with a $475 bill with my name on it.

The pit bull headed off to the pound, in surprisingly good shape, just a small cut above the eye. I love animals and the image of beating that dog the way we did stuck with me for days. What a terrible feeling. It really wasn't his fault, he just responded to being bit in the face. I learned a lesson and will not have any other animal in our shop.

The membership at Stockton Golf and Country Club, upon hearing about Izzo's wounds and the bill, immediately started to pitch in to help cover the costs. The course was extremely wet for these couple of weeks and few golfers were making it down to the Proshop. Even so, I recouped the expenses within a matter days. How is that for support? I can't say I was surprised at their generosity because I see it every day in the way the staff is treated. Thank you very much for all of the contributions, that really helped out.

This post is already longer than I intended, but trust me, this is the condensed version that I've told a hundred times. In order to leave on a high note, here is an example of Izzo enjoying herself on some better days. The picture below was sent to me by a member, Jim Worrall. In one shot, he beat all of my previous attempts, nice work.

Finally, I've been trying to get video of Izzo and the fox for the last two years. The red fox has a funny yelp or cry when she plays with Izzo. In the background you can hear a couple of staff members imitating the sound.