Day # 142 ~ 3.5ish miles
I need more sleep!
I have two dogs. Medium sized canines.
Both will bark at you as you apporach my house with their tails wagging like a leaf in the breeze.
That was the biggest difference in my dogs and my doggie encounter this morning.
A wagging tail.
The wonderfully larger dirty yellow lab-ish looking creature that I saw about a quarter mile past my first mile marker was NOT into wagging his tail.
Raising the hair on the back of his neck. Check.
Baring his teeth. Check.
Pacing back and front on the front to keep me from passing. Check.
Growling loudly. Check.
Tail wagging. Not so much.
Once I realized all these things were going on and I did not know this dog at all I attempted to back away from it. It simply got closer.
And closer.
Until it had changed positions on the road with me.
Now I was closer to the nearest house and farther away from my return route.
I figured I would try to slowly back away towards the house.
The dog, growling loudly, closely followed.
Luckily a small truck came. Yeah! I knew the driver.
Although I would not have given the driver the opportunity to get past us.
I asked him if he knew the dog. (He is a local farmer)
Nope.
Into the truck we piled and he drove us back up the road a safe distance to finish our run.
And I thought it was going to be another run of the mill morning run.
How do you handle canine encounters?
How scary! Thankfully, I haven't had any encounters with a Cujo. I'm glad that truck came by to give you a ride.
ReplyDeleteI did have a friendly puppy pop out of a corn field once and run with me for quite a ways, and I changed my route because I didn't want him to follow me onto a busy road. But otherwise all was well.
Thankfully I don't deal with this much unless I'm out of town [without my mill] but dogs freak me out. no doubt.
ReplyDeleteI was bit on the thigh by a dog protecting his property when I was 8 years old. Luckily it didn't make me afraid of dogs though.
ReplyDeleteDogs just freak me out, period! My neighbor's dog bit my calf once and I was so paranoid it hadn't had a rabies shot. Hate that dog. Hahah.
ReplyDeletevery scary! i've never really had a dog encounter like that. most of the time the owners are right there to reel them back in if they get too close. i've debated carrying mace or pepper spray but haven't made a decision yet. knowing me i'd end up spraying myself!
ReplyDeleteI yell "get back" as the owner says "he won't bite" yeah right...he want bite the owner...but me...I think he will. I wear pepper spray some days, but haven't tried it on a dog yet. I'm a little fearful it will make the dog more aggressive. Hopefully someone will have some good tips.
ReplyDeleteI often run with my small-ish dog so have had dogs come out agressively at us. I'm way more protective of her than I am of myself so typically I will pick her up and then get very authorative with the dog telling it to "go home" and I point away from me. Most dogs seem to back off at this point, maybe growling a bit, but still retreating. Usually they are just being protective of their property. I also wouldn't turn away from an aggressive dog and run, I would back away slowly until I was a comfortable distance away then carry on.
ReplyDeleteYikes!! I'm glad you were able to get out of there safely with some help. Thankfully I've never had an encounter like that but I'm guessing I would cry for my Mommy???
ReplyDeleteScary! Pffffieuw!
ReplyDeleteI actually always take my dog with me on runs (except for the 20+ milers ofcourse...that wouldn't be the best of ideas), and he's a large dog. He sure keeps other dogs away. ;)
Total freak out. Dogs scare the crap out of me. I always stop running when I see one running at or barking at me.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, i've never had a scary canine encounter. I'm very fond of dogs actually. I have 5. yes five LOL! =)
ReplyDeleteGlad to know you're the dog didn't bite or harm you =)
Oh wow! That is scary! You did the right thing! Good thing that driver came by!
ReplyDeleteI don't deal with dogs on my run - I deal with crazies throwing things at me, yelling at me and dodging people on cell phones. I guess we all have some sort of battle on the road ;)
Glad you're okay!
please carry pepper spray with you. I'll bet he'll show up again in the vicinity in the next few days. I try to get authoritative with loose dogs which works about half the time. The other half they're just happy to see me be on my way going past whatever it is they're protecting. I love dogs and wish I could run with my pug but that usually attracts attacks from other dogs so it's probably better that he stays home.
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