CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN –THE DOG ATTARCK

"All right, let's get this situation under control before anyone gets hurt." Claire drew in a fortifying breath, adopting her most authoritative veterinary tone as she turned back toward the bristling Dane. "Rocky? I need you to be a good boy and settle down now." The dog's lips peeled back further in a vicious snarl, thick ropes of saliva dripping from its powerful jaws. For one horrifying moment, Claire flashed back to her childhood on her uncle's farm—specifically, the day one of the hired ranch hands had been mauled by a half-ton Brahman bull after inadvertently stumbling into its pen. The memory of that man's bloodcurdling screams still haunted her nightmares. Somewhere off to her left, she could hear the old man babbling frantically. "Oh dear me, oh dear me...such a vicious beast! We ought to have him put down straight away before he takes someone's hand off." Rocky's owner looked near to tears, her feet sliding another precarious inch across the linoleum as she strained a