Alright, first some background. I am cautious about dogs. I love them in general and I love mine, but I think most people underestimate their potential to act irrational (from a human perspective) and their capability to cause damage.
I am home from college for the summer, and staying with my parents. They/we live in a very nice suburb. $400k-3mil homes, no crime, etc.
In college working out was easy but now I have to juggle 11 hour work days, meeting with other friends who are home from college, and working out. I decided the best way for me to go about it is to run at night (as in after dark) to tire me out before bed and my 5am alarm clock. Also, it is HOT when the sun is up.
So I was out running last night, after dark. I left my house at 9 or so and it was around 9:30 when I hear a wierd noise. I was passing by one of the community pool/playgrounds and I hear a rustling noise so I stopped in the parking lot to stretch and casualy see what was up. I half expected it to be two kids making out or somthing.
I am looking down stretching, and when I straighten and look up, there is a very large dog standing about 20 yards from me, standing in an aggressive posture. I could not tell what kind of dog, because it was dark. So I calmy look in it's direction but not directly aty it and try to see if it has a leash hanging off it or if there is an owner nearby. There isnt. And because I was mostly ignoring the dog, who was very obviously posturing, it started to bark at me, and the tone of it was an obvious challenge.
Then I decided it was time to get out of dodge. I slowly walked away, back towards my house which was about a half mile away. It kept barking but did not move a muscle except its neck and head to follow me with its eyes. So about 1 minute later and not much closer to home, a middle aged woman and her ~35 lbs dog pass by. I call out to her and wave and she looks confused until she takes her ipod earphones out (ugh... a woman walking after dark with headphones, totaly unaware, even in this neghiborhood... :banghead: ). I tell her it looks like a stray dog is shacked up down the road, and to be carefull. She akwardly thanks me (obviously thinking "who cares?") and goes on. I keep walking the other way and about a minute later I hear the stray barking, her dog barking, the tones getting more agressive, and then the lady shrieking.
I turn around and run back (which sucks because I am out of shape and totaly tired) as fast as I can and eventualy see the woman about 4 feet away from the stray yelling (but oddly not very loudly) as the stray has her much smaller dog by the back of the neck, attmepting to break its neck, shaking it viciously. The little one was putting up an impressive fight, however.
So as I close in, with adrenaline kicking in, I make a wierd decision that might have been stupid. At full speed as I closed in (I played soccer in elementary school ) I gave the big stray the hardest midfield pray-for-a-goal kick in the ribs I can. As I connect, I hear a greally gross snapping sound and the same sound a kickboxing bag makes when you kick it. The stray immedieatly releases its hold on the other dog, yelps, and bolts off towards a levee.
The Aftermath
The woman was VERY shaken up, crying and all. After the stray ran off, she got herself sort of collected and ran to a friends house that loved about 5 houses down. She called the police and I waited with her and tried to comfort her dog, whom she couldnt bring herself to touch. It was a beautiful collie, not yet fullgrown. It was torn up pretty bad. Its neck was not broken but it was bleeding and I could see the bite marks were very deep. It was out of breath and just sort of lay there whimpering. It was very sad.
Her friend had called her husband and he showed up about the same time as the police. They asked me a few questions and then told be I could go, and before the woman (Linda) and her husband left to go to the emergency animal hospital, she asked for my cell number and told me she could update me. She even gave me a hug.
Well I got the call today and she said it wasnt for sure yet, but the vet had advised them to put the dog to sleep. Very sad. She offered to take me out to dinner to thank me and I said sure. Next weekend. I also went and got checked for rabies. Doc said there is almost no chance that I could have gotten any by the way I described touching the dog, but the results will be in on teusday.
Well?
Here is how I see it. I did some things wrong, and she was totaly screwed up the whole time. She was paying NO attention to anything. None. When the stray attacked, she stood there. I didnt expect her to jump into the fray, but she should have RUN.
Me on the other hand...
-Getting physicaly involved could have gotten me hurt. It wasnt a logical decision, I just did it.
-I could have offered to walk with her, but I think thats more creepy than knowing there is a stray dog on the road in this day and age. Unfortunate.
-I realized that if the woman had been the one attacked, I know no first aid or CPR. I need to get on that.
-I have OC spray. I leave it at home when I run.
-I have an EDC knife. Also at home when I run.
-Have a cell. You guessed it. At home.
-I do not have a CHL yet, one year to go. But if I did, I imagine it would have been at home and not in the pocket of my running shorts.
-Worst of all, as I attended to the hurt dog (or tried to) It didnt even cross my mind that the stray could have been rabid.
It was an exciting saturday night, to say the least. I feel bad for the dog, bad for the owner, but I cant help but feeling good that I helped. I think when she takes me out to dinner, I will (not criticaly) give her some tips on awareness and suggest she carries her cell and gets some OC.
What do you think?
I am home from college for the summer, and staying with my parents. They/we live in a very nice suburb. $400k-3mil homes, no crime, etc.
In college working out was easy but now I have to juggle 11 hour work days, meeting with other friends who are home from college, and working out. I decided the best way for me to go about it is to run at night (as in after dark) to tire me out before bed and my 5am alarm clock. Also, it is HOT when the sun is up.
So I was out running last night, after dark. I left my house at 9 or so and it was around 9:30 when I hear a wierd noise. I was passing by one of the community pool/playgrounds and I hear a rustling noise so I stopped in the parking lot to stretch and casualy see what was up. I half expected it to be two kids making out or somthing.
I am looking down stretching, and when I straighten and look up, there is a very large dog standing about 20 yards from me, standing in an aggressive posture. I could not tell what kind of dog, because it was dark. So I calmy look in it's direction but not directly aty it and try to see if it has a leash hanging off it or if there is an owner nearby. There isnt. And because I was mostly ignoring the dog, who was very obviously posturing, it started to bark at me, and the tone of it was an obvious challenge.
Then I decided it was time to get out of dodge. I slowly walked away, back towards my house which was about a half mile away. It kept barking but did not move a muscle except its neck and head to follow me with its eyes. So about 1 minute later and not much closer to home, a middle aged woman and her ~35 lbs dog pass by. I call out to her and wave and she looks confused until she takes her ipod earphones out (ugh... a woman walking after dark with headphones, totaly unaware, even in this neghiborhood... :banghead: ). I tell her it looks like a stray dog is shacked up down the road, and to be carefull. She akwardly thanks me (obviously thinking "who cares?") and goes on. I keep walking the other way and about a minute later I hear the stray barking, her dog barking, the tones getting more agressive, and then the lady shrieking.
I turn around and run back (which sucks because I am out of shape and totaly tired) as fast as I can and eventualy see the woman about 4 feet away from the stray yelling (but oddly not very loudly) as the stray has her much smaller dog by the back of the neck, attmepting to break its neck, shaking it viciously. The little one was putting up an impressive fight, however.
So as I close in, with adrenaline kicking in, I make a wierd decision that might have been stupid. At full speed as I closed in (I played soccer in elementary school ) I gave the big stray the hardest midfield pray-for-a-goal kick in the ribs I can. As I connect, I hear a greally gross snapping sound and the same sound a kickboxing bag makes when you kick it. The stray immedieatly releases its hold on the other dog, yelps, and bolts off towards a levee.
The Aftermath
The woman was VERY shaken up, crying and all. After the stray ran off, she got herself sort of collected and ran to a friends house that loved about 5 houses down. She called the police and I waited with her and tried to comfort her dog, whom she couldnt bring herself to touch. It was a beautiful collie, not yet fullgrown. It was torn up pretty bad. Its neck was not broken but it was bleeding and I could see the bite marks were very deep. It was out of breath and just sort of lay there whimpering. It was very sad.
Her friend had called her husband and he showed up about the same time as the police. They asked me a few questions and then told be I could go, and before the woman (Linda) and her husband left to go to the emergency animal hospital, she asked for my cell number and told me she could update me. She even gave me a hug.
Well I got the call today and she said it wasnt for sure yet, but the vet had advised them to put the dog to sleep. Very sad. She offered to take me out to dinner to thank me and I said sure. Next weekend. I also went and got checked for rabies. Doc said there is almost no chance that I could have gotten any by the way I described touching the dog, but the results will be in on teusday.
Well?
Here is how I see it. I did some things wrong, and she was totaly screwed up the whole time. She was paying NO attention to anything. None. When the stray attacked, she stood there. I didnt expect her to jump into the fray, but she should have RUN.
Me on the other hand...
-Getting physicaly involved could have gotten me hurt. It wasnt a logical decision, I just did it.
-I could have offered to walk with her, but I think thats more creepy than knowing there is a stray dog on the road in this day and age. Unfortunate.
-I realized that if the woman had been the one attacked, I know no first aid or CPR. I need to get on that.
-I have OC spray. I leave it at home when I run.
-I have an EDC knife. Also at home when I run.
-Have a cell. You guessed it. At home.
-I do not have a CHL yet, one year to go. But if I did, I imagine it would have been at home and not in the pocket of my running shorts.
-Worst of all, as I attended to the hurt dog (or tried to) It didnt even cross my mind that the stray could have been rabid.
It was an exciting saturday night, to say the least. I feel bad for the dog, bad for the owner, but I cant help but feeling good that I helped. I think when she takes me out to dinner, I will (not criticaly) give her some tips on awareness and suggest she carries her cell and gets some OC.
What do you think?