Surprise Attack
Whoever said that having a dog is like having a baby can never be more right. I mean, as cute and as lovable my dog, Prince, is, but he can be a such a handful sometimes. He requires so much attention and tender loving care… much like a baby!
Prince got it all easy – he plays, eats, poops and sleeps – that’s what his world is all about. The worse thing is, he doesn’t know how to adapt to my sleeping patterns, much less know if it is a weekend or a holiday, for crying out loud! He thinks that he has every right to demand that he be walked at 7:00AM regardless of what day it is! So, even if it is a weekend and my only chance to sleep in, I have to, against my will, get up so he can have his nature bonding and do his bathroom business at the same time. Otherwise, if I ignore his yelping and yapping, I will for sure be paying for it later. So unless I want to be cleaning pee and picking up poop inside my house, I gotta have to drag my butt out of the bed!
So this Sunday morning was no different. I must have been still half-asleep when I went out of the house.. with our dog leading me. Holidays and weekends are great, but it does mess up my sleeping pattern. You know how that goes – no work tomorrow, therefore I can stay up as late as I want! Yeah! So that’s exactly what happened the previous night; and that explains why I was dog tired this morning (no pun intended). I thought that I will have to go back to bed after the walk.
As I was thinking this, we turned a corner. I noticed that Prince stopped; his hairs all standing up. All of a sudden, he was in his attack mode. I looked up to see what the matter was…. Lo and behold, on the other street is my neighbor (an older lady)with her big Boxer.
Mind you, there was a small playground / field separating us, so I thought we were ok… but nah. I tagged at Prince to urge him to move on but he didn’t want to budge. Prince has met this dog before and the Boxer was mean. My Prince is such a friendly dog, but there’s something about this Boxer that just makes my dog go nuts. Obviously, this feeling is totally reciprocated so I’ve always made it a point to avoid a confrontation.
But the Boxer saw Prince. He started barking, or snarling, I should say. The owner was oblivious to us, so she was completely caught by surprise when her dog pulled hard away from her. She tried to control her dog, but alas, the Boxer was much stronger and the leash slipped from her hands. Next thing I know, this 50-60 lbs boxer was running across the field, charging towards me and my 25 lbs Beagle-Pomeranian mix!
I was horrified, so much so that I was glued to the spot, motionless as I stood watching this dog coming at us at full speed. I thought of scooping up Prince to protect him, but the picture of Roy being attacked by his tiger flashed in my mind ... so forget that!
On impulse, I jumped in front of Prince in order to shield him, and in the hope of intimidating the other dog. But that didn't work. The Boxer continued to charge; ran me over and knocked me down...to get to my dog. I fell hard on my bottom with my legs open and my flip-flops flying all over. For interminable seconds, I forgot why I was on the ground until I heard the vicious squabble behind me. My dog!!! So I scrambled to get up, just as the Boxer’s owner came to the rescue. Thank God!!!
I grabbed Prince and held him in my arms. My poor doggie was trembling so much. He was just as shaken as his Mommy was.
I made sure that Prince was ok – which he was, thank God for that. He had bite marks, but it didn’t break his skin whatsoever. My neighbor profusely apologized, but all I could mumble was “it’s ok” even though I know deep inside that it was not!
I pulled Prince to get away from the Boxer as fast as we could. We continued our walk going home with my badly scraped elbow, sore behind, shaking legs...and bruised ego.
Needless to say, I wasn’t able to go back to bed after that. What a way to start my day.
But I learned a valuable lesson.
When dog-walking, bring a PEPPERSPRAY!
Prince got it all easy – he plays, eats, poops and sleeps – that’s what his world is all about. The worse thing is, he doesn’t know how to adapt to my sleeping patterns, much less know if it is a weekend or a holiday, for crying out loud! He thinks that he has every right to demand that he be walked at 7:00AM regardless of what day it is! So, even if it is a weekend and my only chance to sleep in, I have to, against my will, get up so he can have his nature bonding and do his bathroom business at the same time. Otherwise, if I ignore his yelping and yapping, I will for sure be paying for it later. So unless I want to be cleaning pee and picking up poop inside my house, I gotta have to drag my butt out of the bed!So this Sunday morning was no different. I must have been still half-asleep when I went out of the house.. with our dog leading me. Holidays and weekends are great, but it does mess up my sleeping pattern. You know how that goes – no work tomorrow, therefore I can stay up as late as I want! Yeah! So that’s exactly what happened the previous night; and that explains why I was dog tired this morning (no pun intended). I thought that I will have to go back to bed after the walk.
As I was thinking this, we turned a corner. I noticed that Prince stopped; his hairs all standing up. All of a sudden, he was in his attack mode. I looked up to see what the matter was…. Lo and behold, on the other street is my neighbor (an older lady)with her big Boxer.
Mind you, there was a small playground / field separating us, so I thought we were ok… but nah. I tagged at Prince to urge him to move on but he didn’t want to budge. Prince has met this dog before and the Boxer was mean. My Prince is such a friendly dog, but there’s something about this Boxer that just makes my dog go nuts. Obviously, this feeling is totally reciprocated so I’ve always made it a point to avoid a confrontation.
But the Boxer saw Prince. He started barking, or snarling, I should say. The owner was oblivious to us, so she was completely caught by surprise when her dog pulled hard away from her. She tried to control her dog, but alas, the Boxer was much stronger and the leash slipped from her hands. Next thing I know, this 50-60 lbs boxer was running across the field, charging towards me and my 25 lbs Beagle-Pomeranian mix!
I was horrified, so much so that I was glued to the spot, motionless as I stood watching this dog coming at us at full speed. I thought of scooping up Prince to protect him, but the picture of Roy being attacked by his tiger flashed in my mind ... so forget that!
On impulse, I jumped in front of Prince in order to shield him, and in the hope of intimidating the other dog. But that didn't work. The Boxer continued to charge; ran me over and knocked me down...to get to my dog. I fell hard on my bottom with my legs open and my flip-flops flying all over. For interminable seconds, I forgot why I was on the ground until I heard the vicious squabble behind me. My dog!!! So I scrambled to get up, just as the Boxer’s owner came to the rescue. Thank God!!!
I grabbed Prince and held him in my arms. My poor doggie was trembling so much. He was just as shaken as his Mommy was.
I made sure that Prince was ok – which he was, thank God for that. He had bite marks, but it didn’t break his skin whatsoever. My neighbor profusely apologized, but all I could mumble was “it’s ok” even though I know deep inside that it was not!
I pulled Prince to get away from the Boxer as fast as we could. We continued our walk going home with my badly scraped elbow, sore behind, shaking legs...and bruised ego.
Needless to say, I wasn’t able to go back to bed after that. What a way to start my day.
But I learned a valuable lesson.
When dog-walking, bring a PEPPERSPRAY!
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