Dogs

This evening walking up from the playing field I saw two dogs fighting.
A girl and her younger brother, who was probably about four, were walking a pit-bull terrier, at least, it was a short, squat dog. He was walking in the river when I passed them. Down the hill a woman came with a black dog, bigger, a Labrador, I think, on a lead. They walked past me and then I hear the girl scream. I turned around, and twenty feet away I saw the two dogs locked together moving around. The shorter dog had the advantage, the black one couldn't move unless the owner let go of the lead. I walked towards them, and the woman had picked up a rock ready to throw it or hit it at the smaller one. A man came running past me, I thought he must be the woman's husband or partner. He went up to the smaller dog, who had its teeth clamped on the other dog's neck. The girl was screaming "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The man grabbed the shorter dog's muzzle and tried to pull its jaws apart, but it kept its hold. The woman hit the smaller dog in the face with her fist, and the man seemed to look at her as if to say stop. After what seemed like a minute or two, the man finally pulled the dog's jaws apart enough for it to let go and he sat on it, and said to the girl - get it on the lead. They got the lead on and they walked past me. I said to the man you alright mate? He said I will be, his right hand was covered in blood, the dog's and probably his own. Afterwards, I thought about how I could have helped the man. At the time I couldn't move. A man and woman came down the hill and asked what had happened, they said they heard a child screaming. I said it was the dogs. The man walked up the hill with the girl, her brother and the smaller dog, and she couldn't stop saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry". That's all.