Thursday, September 13, 2012

Dog Attack

You know how I'm scared of dogs and always worry about being attacked and bitten? Well, I was not worried for no reason! For a long time I've been having issues with a particular dog.  I first talked about the dog in this post. Take note of the fact that in the story I mentioned that the owner said the dog hadn't ever bit anyone. I have told the owners multiple times that I'm scared of it. I told them how scared I was and they assured me the dog was all bark and no bite. They told me the dogs name and told me if I would just yell at it to go home it would. Well, each encounter was getting a little worse. The dog basically corners me (there's no corner, but I can't move) barking until it finally gives up. This keeps lasting longer. Around two weeks ago one of the owners was outside when it happened. She sort of introduced the dog to me and it was actually pretty friendly to me. I was hoping that was the end of it.

Yesterday morning I was running and when I got to the house the dog ran out. I did my usual thing where I yelled for it to go home. Very quickly it ran around behind me and bit me. Keep in mind, this dog is probably 75 pounds. Very big, very aggressive. It kept barking and backing me up and would not back down. Blood was running down my leg. The owner was home so I was screaming for help. Really, not yelling. Screaming in terror. It bit once, so what was going to happen next? Eventually a truck was coming down the road so the dog ran off. I flagged down the truck and he gave me a ride home. I knew the guy btw. It's a small town. I know everyone.

When I got home I got the blood cleaned up and told Rick. I went to the house accross the street from me because the owner's friends live there. I asked for her number and when I told them what happened the guy immediately knew which dog it was. He said he knew it would bite someone some day.

I called the lady and she assured me the dog was caught up on it's shots, but she couldn't prove it as she does them herself. That's super common for our area, so I wasn't surprised. A little bit later she came to my house to apologize again and check on me and whatever. She's actually a very very nice person. Still, her freaking dog attacked me. I was going to just let it go, but everyone encouraged me to go to the dr and also report it to the sherriff. I did both of those things, though I really didn't want to report it. They are going to talk to her and make her quarantine the dog for however many days, but there isn't really anything else they can do. They can tell her how serious it is and how she needs to keep it penned up, but if she doesn't they can't fine her or anything. We have no leash laws.
Today my leg is bruiesed and sore, but I'm fine.  I hate that this happened, but hopefully the owner of the dog will start taking this seriously and keep her dog penned up from now on.

Here is a pic right after it happened:
A few hours later:


I have ordered myself some pepper spray and plan to never run without it again! Well, except for tomorrow and Saturday. It hasn't arrived yet.

4 comments:

  1. That was scary, Mel! How are you now? Have you filed any complaint about the incident? I’m sure that you had yourself check and treated, but I would suggest that you take some action regarding this unfortunate event. To start with, obtain the names and contact numbers of witnesses, if there were any. Also, document your injuries, along with the medical papers, and go to the agency that does animal control in your jurisdiction and make a report.

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  2. That was scary, indeed, Nannie! If I were Mel, I would've looked for a higher ground, so that the dog wouldn't have a chance to bite me. Another thing, Nannie, Mel didn’t want to report the incident to the police, and you must've missed that. But, I think it's the best way to do as well. @ Mel: It's a good thing that you didn't receive any injury aside from this because it could've been worse.

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  3. Actually, I did report the incident to the police. In my blog post I said I reported it even though I didn't want to. This issue has been resolved to my satisfaction. I thank both of you for caring :)

    Raleigh, there was no higher ground unless I wanted to jump onto their mailbox. I'm just not that coordinated!

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  4. Hi, Mel! It's a good thing that you've reported this to resolve the issue, but on the other hand, you didn't want to because the dog would be quarantined, right? So, have you been properly medicated? Did the owner of the dog paid the bills for you?

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