Dogs are among my favorite people, but a couple of evenings ago as I was taking my evening walk an unknown dog made a charge at me.
Doright Manor sits at the bottom of a loop and many evenings when Studly and I have been out and about in the car I’ll have him drop me off at the top of our loop so I can get a walk in before darkness sets in. On the occasion of the charging dog, the weather was so nice that I decided to walk the entire loop, bypassing the manor and trekking up the backside.
It’s a nice walk and great exercise as the loop has a long steady change in elevation. About halfway up the back side of the loop I caught a flash of brown out of the corner of my eye. I knew there was a dog waiting to ambush me, if not to attack, just to assert its authority over its territory.
I continued walking, grateful that I’d seen the dog and wouldn’t be taken by surprise. Then he rushed me, a large apparently angry dog barking a deep growly baritone that caused me to stop dead in my tracks. I commanded him to stop, and he did, while continuing to bark.
The driveway he came running out of belongs to a home that’s set way back on its property and there is no house directly across from it. I raised my voice in a “hello!” hoping the dog’s owner would come and corral him.
No response. I had my phone and dialed Studly. No response. I tried again. Nothing, and I figured he was in the shower. All this time the dog continued to bark. I took a tentative step forward and he came closer and growled more loudly. I knew better than to turn my back, so I began walking slowly backwards. He took another step towards me. Again I sternly commanded him to stop and he did. Finally I heard a female voice as his owner came out to the road. The dog was still barking furiously.
“He won’t hurt you,” she said, sounding miffed.
“I don’t care!” I responded. “I don’t know your dog, and he scares me.”
It took her several minutes to get the dog back up to the house. He kept turning back to bark at me and I’m sure my fear was encouraging that behavior.
She never apologized, just herded the dog back to her home. I continued my walk and at the top of the loop Studly returned my call. He offered to come get me, but the crisis was over by then.
Now I’m reluctant to walk my loop. I have a walking stick that would provide some defense, (I didn’t have it that evening) but I’m really nervous. Not long ago a Texas friend was attacked by two large dogs while on a walk, and is still dealing with a nasty bite from that incident.
No punch line in this post. I hate being afraid.
Peace, people.
Praying for Eyebrowz 