Duke's acct of how he nearly lost an ear-      "Christ, there we were, Soper's hole, Tortola, a dark alley next to a house of ill repute ( I was being led astray by one of the male crew members).  And there they were, the meanest looking bunch of island riffraff I'd ever come across.  Fear was not an option.  They were led by an extremely well proportioned blond wench who I knew went by the name of Bianca (word travels fast in these port towns).   She outweighed me by at least 30 lbs so I knew I’d have to act fast in order to have the upper paw.  Without warning I charged.  I went for her front leg, hoping I could latch onto it and render her helpless, but she'd been living on the streets for too long & guessed my strategy.   She did the "husky roll" whereby she flopped onto her shoulder protecting the leg I was going for, and in one swift move had my neck in her jaws.  I struggled, but alas could get no hold on the ground, sadly my attack had started in the very same spot where they dump the spittoon hourly!   With what seemed to be my last breath I managed to growl out some comments about her parentage that made even her stand up & take notice.   She had loosened her grip!   I tore free & got in a good bite on her shoulder.  This did not go unnoticed, and she leapt for me even as I was doing my best corgi reversal.   She had my ear! as I continued to reverse, I could feel the blood flowing over my head & face, the pain was unbearable!   The blood was everywhere!  The whole pack watched in astonishment as the ground turned red.  At this point the cowardly male crew member, who had been hiding behind the dumpster, made an appearance & launched a well placed kick at Bianca’s backside which was enough to make the cowards turn and run.  As my ear was beyond repair, we took the fish cleaning knife & cut away the damaged area,  I had to suffer wearing a paper towel bandage for a few days.  Needless to say, I stayed below decks rather than face the ridicule of neighboring yacht dogs.