SOOOOOO SCARY!!!!!

After a wonderful morning getting things done at home and a great couple of hours of shopping, I returned home to our friends who were coming to spend another night or two due to the cold. My little dog Baxter was in our bedroom because he hates being out by himself when we're gone (bad separation anxiety case here). So after we got all our stuff in I let him out and he ended up going through the doggy door to the back yard. No problem. Happens dozens of times every day. But today was different! Today one of the pair of pit bulls that lives across the street had gotten out. I didn't know that though. And what I also didn't know is that this pit bull had literally torn down part of the fencing in the hedge to get into my back yard and come after my dog!!!!
Now Baxter has NEVER liked these dogs. I'm not too fond of the breed myself, but these are not well-controlled and they are not nice dogs at all. They belong to the daughter of our neighbor who is not happy about having them in the house. And they are not spayed or neutered. They are the epitome of the badness of this breed. So every time Baxter sees or hears these dogs he tries to go after them. We've been working on making him stop but when one is in HIS yard coming after HIS family, Baxter proved himself to be strong and brave! By the time I figured out what was happening, the dogs were on top of each other in the far corner of the yard! I finally got Baxter to come to me and we were about 5-7 feet from the corner when I heard a sound. Here came the big dog!!!
Baxter whirled around and went after the pit bull making the most awful barking noise you ever heard! The pit bull (about 3 times Bax's size) turned and started to go back and the next thing I knew Baxter came up on that dog's butt and grabbed him with his teeth! Of course that started another huge fight and they were on top of each other! I'm screaming at Baxter and trying to figure out what to do when my friend Karen comes running with a thick rubber hose she'd found laying on the ground. She went after the dogs and was whacking a table and the ground with it. Baxter finally came towards me and I got him started towards the house yelling at him AND at Karen to come into the house. Meanwhile Scott had come outside to see what all the noise was about. I finally got Scott to get Bax inside and yelled at Karen to come because she was chasing the dog into the corner! (She's about 5'4" and less than 100 lbs!)
By now I'm yelling at Karen like she's the dog "Karen COME!" She finally listened and started slowly walking across the big yard and I'm yelling "KAREN COME NOW!" She suddenly realized that the dog could be on her in a second and raced back into the house. Whew! Everyone's inside and we're all crazy - you can imagine the commotion! Bax wants out, Karen's trying to figure out if I'm okay, I'm shaking so hard I can hardly move trying to find the neighbor's phone number, etc. I finally got the neighbor on the phone and he's apologizing like crazy saying the dogs are both in their kennels, he's had enough of his (grown) daughter's dogs, etc. and asking if Bax and I are okay. We are. But in the process, someone didn't close the door to outside and Bax got back out and now I can't find him. He's GONE!
I go back inside and get the leash and his treats and put a sweater on cuz it's blowing gale-force winds and the temps are dropping (we're supposed to have a wind chill of 10 (that's TEN) degrees tonight! I start going around looking and screaming for Baxter. He's nowhere to be seen! We live in an old neighborhood built in the 1960s so our yards are big and our blocks are large. And we're a block off a major street and it's rush hour - 5:00 on a Monday afternoon. NOT a good scenario for a crazy dog who's out for revenge! I called my husband almost in tears and he says he'll be home in 5-10 minutes.
Finally about 3/4 of the way around I called Scott and Karen who are back at the house and ask if they'll go look in the back yard. Thank God that Baxter was there!!! They get him in his kennel and I walk the rest of the way home wheezing and shaking and freaking out.
In the end, neither Baxter nor the pit bull have a scratch on them. It's a MIRACLE! And us adults are finally calming down. Dinner's a bit later than usual as a result and the aftermath of telling Steve all our horror stories about what happened. Actually, the visual picture of my dog biting the other dog's butt will live on in my memory forever! GO BAXTER! I've always told Steve this little 30 pound dog would guard me with his life. Now even Steve believes it!!! And it was good for Scott and Karen to see what happened because they now understand what we've been trying to tell them. (They're watching the house and Bax while we go up north for the holidays.) And it was good for Baxter to know that when push came to shove, Karen has all authority! Hehe! The picture of her whacking that rubber hose on the table and ground and screaming "BACK!" was pretty funny too. But also one I never, ever want to repeat!!!
Needless to say we all needed a nice stiff drink - even ME! And I rarely drink! But all is calm now and I just had to share. As if I needed even MORE excitement in my life!!!!! OMG!!! I just thank God that we're all okay. It could have been SO much worse for all of us!