Take Me Back, Carry Me Back

Did I report on the second alley attack on Foxy Brown a few weeks ago? This time we were in an alley we go down nearly every day, mostly to visit her dog friend General, a lovely golden retriever with a lightbulb head. We had stopped to say hi to General and were on our way down the block when we noticed that the gate was open to a yard that usually housed a couple of big dogs. In a split second, really before we could even think let alone do anything, two dogs roared out of the gate and immediately jumped on Foxy; one biting her neck and one biting her in the rear. One of them was, I think, a Portuguese water dog and the other one was a medium sized long haired black dog. Anyway, they were snarling and biting and Foxy was screaming and twisting around to get away from them. I was afraid to reach into the fray for fear of getting a bite myself. I was SCREAMING at the top of my lungs, "get away, get off, stop stop STOP" for the sole purpose of alerting the owners to what was going on. A man darted out of the yard and managed to pull his dogs off and apologized profusely. He said his wife had gone out in the alley and had left the gate open. Now why you'd be a moron and leave your gate wide open when you not only have two dogs, but have two dogs who will rapidly ATTACK other dogs is beyond me. The funny thing is, this guy had an English accent and I'm pretty sure he has called both Steve and myself during our radio shows and talked about living in our neighborhood. I was about two seconds away from yelling at him, "Do you know who we ARE?" Luckily, I didn't do that.

Anyway, a few weeks later and I have post-traumatic stress disorder about walking down alleys. Steve took Foxy down that alley a couple days later and she totally shied away from that yard and didn't act normally until they were almost to the end of the block. Today we walked down our own alley and I was jumpy and nervous the whole time. Sadly, I think I'm done with alleys. I wonder if those dogs would attack a person alone? Do I want to find out on dogless walks? I don't know. I'm just sad that something that we took such pleasure in has been spoiled by a couple of assholes who can't contain or control their dogs.

Oh, speaking of that! Yesterday I was sitting on the couch when I heard a loud exclamation very nearby. It scared the cat away so I got up to look outside and see what was going on. Our across the street neighbor was walking down our front stairs holding his little (somewhere between 12-15 pounds, I'd say) dog by the collar. The dog was growling and twisting and snapping viciously at the guy! I assume the dog had run out of his yard and come over to our porch for some reason. Anyway, the neighbor stopped in the street to make the dog sit while he bent over and started to lecture the dog (ha!); the little thing LEAPT up into the guy's face, snarling and snapping at him! This dog is obviously totally out of control! The guy got the dog settled down then walked over into his own yard and sat down with the dog and lectured him further. I swear, there was finger pointing and what appeared to be an attempt at reason. Dude, you're talking to a hyperactive, toy breed dog! Good luck with that.