On Friday, whilst walking my dog (fairly big, intact male, 3yrs old, Bouvier, 44kg/100lbs) I spotted another big dog (intact male, 2yrs old, Rhodesian Ridgeback). I called my dog back and held him by his collar, meanwhile the other dog's owner has spotted him running towards us and is giving chase. Classic ridgeback approach technique - he circles around the back of us. Now my dog is big - usually the biggest on the block and the breed is regularly trained to Schutzhund 3, but a Ridgeback is probably the only dog around that could cause him serious damage, so I held onto him tightly, expecting the other owner to grab the Ridgeback. The other dog lunged for my dog's neck - unfortunately, my hand was still there, so I now have a deep puncture wound in my left ring finger and have of course let go of my dog. A few tussles later and the other guy has his dog by the collar and my dog returns to me.

OK, ETS mode - fortunately I have my handkerchief and use it with compression to stop the copious bleeding. Stupidly, I have left my cellphone at home, I am only half a mile from home and reasoned I wouldn't need it. That won't happen again. If the dog has punctured my wrist instead of my finger, things could have gone very badly.

I make it home, call the doc and he wants me in immediately. The wound is deep and so I'm now on penicillin. Huge ones. Plus I get a lesson in how to apply steristrips!

Today, the swelling is beginning to subside, thanks to the penicillin there doesn't appear to be infection and I can start to use the hand again.

The question that is still dominating my thoughts is: what could I have done to prevent it from happening, preferably without losing my dog?