Friday morning looked to be a normal travel day. Eat breakfast, walk Sammy, finish getting ready to go to my grandparents' house in Fortuna (another story). Unfortunately, the norm stopped when I walked Sammy. I walk a loop that goes by a lot of houses, various nature scenes, and over hills. It's only about 35 minutes and it usually goes with little trouble. There is only one thing I complain about: other dogs. Every so often, I'll notice little things about how a dog is being taken care of. I've watched a dog become aggressive because of a fence and noticed a tennis ball graveyard (Sammy's heaven). Usually, nothing actually affects me. On Friday, however, a little thing didn't end up being so little. About 15 minutes in, Sammy and I headed down a hill and a couple started yelling at their dog. I don't know why. I just remember I saw their gate open and their dogs were barking. The bigger of their two dogs had gotten out before and nothing happened. On this occasion, their bigger dog, Ringo, ran out of the "enclosed" area and chased after Sammy and I. He barred his teeth, snarled, and attacked Sammy. I thought to get my pepper spray out and run, but I couldn't move. I just screamed. Sammy got off his leash and tried to run back, but Ringo chased after him and attacked again with some resistance on Sammy's part. By that time, I had the pepper spray out (not fired) and the owners were coming down. After the dogs were guided to their respective owners, I got Sammy's leash back on and we walked away. Sammy was unphased; I was shaking and feeling guilty for not doing anything. He just had some saliva on his shoulder and a possible leg bite. I wasn't sure about the possible bite because he tended to chew on his leg. He showed no signs of pain and my aunt and cousin couldn't see any problems with him later. Basically, all is well, but I'm not walking that route anymore. I still feel horrible for not doing anything. Sammy could have gotten hurt. I am still thanking my lucky star that nothing happened and that the owners were there. I was completely useless.
In other news, I'm at my grandparents' house. The weekend has been nice so far. I saw some friends at church (I used to live here in Fortuna), I've eaten a ton of my grandma's amazing food, I went to Patrick's Point, my cousin hooked my grandparents up with wifi, and it's raining. Quite nice.
Happy 2nd day of spring!
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I know how you feel. The day after I got my dog, we were walking and there was a dog jumping against the fence of a house we were walking past. Suddenly, he broke through one of the wood slats. It looked like a boxer/pit bull mix. Ultimately he didn't come after us, though he could have easily. My dog an I ran like the wind, but later I thought about what I would have done had the dog gotten out. What could I have done? I had nothing with me. I have not walked past that house since with my dog on my own. In fact, I don't even like to take Shaggy for walks alone because I know I would be mostly powerless. I wait until my fiance is available. He's a big guy and could probably wrestle any dog and win :o)
ReplyDeleteThat's good that the dog didn't get through. That ending sounds much better than what could have happened. Your solution just might help me, too. It might take a bit of ice and bribery, but with family, that's normal :P
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