I experienced a first this evening. I had to be physically rescued from a dangerous situation. Not that I haven’t found myself in plenty of dicy situations—I have. But I’ve never had to actually be rescued from any of those…until tonight.
It was growing dark out, and I finally had the chance to go for the walk I’d been wanting to take all day. But since it was night, I had to think on which of my many routes would be the safest. Deciding on one, I headed out, wearing light-colored clothing and carrying a flashlight.
I made it about a quarter of a mile before something, large and lurking in the shadows, caught my attention up ahead and off to my left. I shown my flashlight in that direction, but what I saw was just beyond where my full beam of light would reach. Gauging from the length of its legs, I wondered if it might be a deer, though thought that would be odd, what with it being night.
I continued towards the being, keeping my flashlight aimed on it. All at once, I realized what I was seeing—a ginormous stray dog that made most Great Danes look small!
Holy crap!
Getting closer, I realized that I’d seen the dog out and about on a few of my other walks and runs. The dog had always seemed friendly enough though a little standoffish. Tonight, however, there was something distinctly different about the dog’s temperament. Not sure if it was due to it being dark out or the fact that the dog’s left front foot was bandaged, but the dog was not in a friendly mood. In fact, when I came even with it, it lowered its head, looked at me with its eyes rolled up and every muscle in its body was frozen and tensed.
Ah, shit! It’s gonna attack.
Did I mention the size of this dog? Its legs were long enough that I had no doubt it could make it across to my side of the road in less time than it would take for me to scream.
Just then, it decided it didn’t like me and began walking towards me, head still lowered and growling.
Great, just great! I’m gonna be an appetizer for a dinosaur-sized dog whose so big he probably won’t even get indigestion after devouring me.
I looked around and realized I was completely on my own. Though there were houses right by us, they were set too far back from the road for anyone to have heard me cry for help. I decided to put my old dog-training skills to use by making myself appear taller and telling the dog, “No! Leave it!” in a commanding voice.
The dog responded as I’d hoped and stopped. Tilting his head, he grumbled his displeasure in the form of a low growl/whine and then turned and headed away from me.
Excellent!
The dog stopped about ten feet away from where it had been and turned to face me. But he didn’t approach again, so I decided to continue on my way, hoping that he’d be gone by the time I had to loop back the same way.
I walked perhaps thirty to forty feet before I got an uncomfortable feeling. Turning, I just caught sight of the dog break into a run straight at me.
Crap! Crap! Crap!
I knew if I turned and ran, he’d consider it a game and run me down. So, instead, I turned to face him as he barreled down on me. The distance between us closed to an uncomfortable twenty-five feet or so and I yelled, “No! Leave it!” in as forceful a voice as I could conjure.
To my surprise, the dog stopped charging, cocked his head and then slowly resumed walking towards me. It was then that I cursed myself for not bringing my knife or some other form of self-protection. But then I remembered how I was walking in my very own neighborhood on the “safe” route and hadn’t thought them necessary.
Considering my options, I remembered that I always carry my cell phone with me. I pulled it out and dialed home. My oldest daughter picked up, and I quickly explained what was happening, while keeping my flashlight trained on the dog, still approaching me, and backing away from it in an attempt to maintain some distance between us. I heard my daughter call to her younger brother to hurry and come with her, that I needed their help. To me, she said, “We’ll be right there,” before hanging up.
She hung up? She actually hung up? WTF?
I would have preferred that she remain on the line, but she hadn’t, and I realized that I was once again alone with the attacking dog. By this time, the dog had taken to slinking in the shadows to try to sneak up on me. But I was wise to him and kept backing away with my flashlight beam illuminating his every move.
He got frustrated with my flashing the light on him, growled louder and then began to run towards me again. By now, my anxiety level was through the roof, and I hoped for something—anything—to intervene and save me. In answer, a car rounded the corner, it’s high beams temporarily startling the dog, causing him to freeze. The car continued past and behind it, I spotted another set of headlights. Those caused the dog to turn away from me and head down the nearest driveway. I kept my flashlight trained on where I’d last seen him, but was unable to discern where he was, as my beam didn’t reach that far, and hell if I was going towards the dog.
The second car slowed as it approached, and with great relief, I realized that it was my daughter and son. I jumped in the car, and we headed home. Both kids asked if I was okay. When I assured them that I was, my oldest daughter said, “See, aren’t you glad I didn’t come with you on the walk? Otherwise we both would have been stuck with no one to come and get us.”
I had to admit that for once, I was beyond grateful that she’d turned down my offer to join me, instead opting to stay home and do her laundry.
Let’s hear it for cell phones and kids who pick up the phone and come to my rescue.
Hip, hip hooray!!!
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