So tonight was my short recovery run. As usual, I had a bit of a tough time slowing down and ended up doing it much too fast, basically defeating the purpose. *sigh*
I decided to stick to the neighboring subdivisions for this run. I have been venturing into town and other subdivisions farther away for my longer runs. I was about 1/10 away from finishing and running up a street just a couple streets from my house when this huge black dog rushed me. It came from this house that I call the "white trash house." Sorry if that's offensive, but the people who live there are seriously disgusting.
Anyway, their stupid dog, which looked like a mix between a Newfoundland and Labrador (it was REALLY big) ran at me full bore and jumped up, pushing my chest with its ginormous front paws. That caused me to shriek and spin around. The force darn near caused me to fall. I stopped running and stopped the Garmin while the two Billy Bobs living there watched their dog go after me. They finally tried half-heartedly to corral it, and I thought they got it back in the garage.
I crossed to the other side of the street and started again. About three seconds later, the idiot dog was up in my face again!!! I screamed "God damn!!" (not sure why I chose that), and glared at the guys. I stopped the Garmin again and walked to another nearby street, where I finished my last minute or so of the run.
I have to say the whole thing shook me up and irritated the crap out of me all at once. I don't understand why people feel it's OK to let their dogs run in the street. I don't care if it's in front of their house. In my opinion, any dog that's not in a house or fenced yard NEEDS to be on a leash!!!
I think I will be looking for some pepper spray, along with a fuel belt and new running clothes.
Today's stats:
Run:
Distance: two miles
Time: 22:14
Pace: 11:07 minute/mile
Splits:
Mile 1: 10:52
Mile 2: 11:22
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6 comments:
uh..yeah that is all wrong!
Here in the north pole, you HAVE to have your dog under control on YOUR yard. Meaning that you can't just let them run the neighborhood or out onto the street after people.
Can you call the city? is there a bylaw officer?? (we have that here not sure in usa)
I'm glad you got your two miles in, did DH ask who pawed you ;)
I was going to ask the same thing as Nik, can you call animal control? They always have dudes driving around here looking for strays or dogs off their leash. That's messed up!! And SCARY!!!! Especially since a dog's instincts are to chase anything that runs.
Sorry about the dog! :<( I get rattled by dogs even when they are behind fences..that must have been so scary!
I actually purchased a couple of cans of pepper spray that are designed for runners (I found them on ebay) for just this reason. We actually have coyotes in Arizona, so when I trail run I like to keep one on me. I had one chase down the street in PA when I was back there. I turned at him, stomped my foot and went "hey!" and he stopped and headed the other way. The best thing to do is stop and give a command like "stop" or "bad." If it is a domestic dog, it will usually think it is a command and stop. If it is a wild dog...or coyote...might need to go for the pepper spray.
Oh, and the pepper spray works well on the biligerent dog owners, too.
That would freak me out! Big dogs scare me when they are a block away.
Amy
http://blog.runnerslounge.com
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