Forums >General Running>One of my "Ruff" morning runs
Run for your life
Was doing some hill repeats one time in a neighborhood—rare as I usually stuck to the bike trail. Off to my right I hear a door open and the sound of a low-growling dog coming at me. I ran to my left immediately and jumped over a chain-link fence into someone's yard. I had about a second to spare as I turned and saw it was a pit bull. It circled the fence looking for a way in. Finally the kids who had opened the door came over and grabbed the dog and got it inside. Luckily, I don't run with headphones, because I reacted solely on hearing, and it gave me the edge I needed to avoid a mauling. As far as such dogs that behave this way toward people walking or running by, I consider them wild animals, and their owners uncivilized and irresponsible for unleashing them on society.
Wow, a Pit-Bull of all dogs. I'm glad you came out alright. I agree on the irresponsibility of owners leaving dogs unleashed in front of their house. Any child could be running in their front yard and get mauled.
Be blessed, be adventurous!
That's why I always carry pepper spray on my runs. Where I live now it's not as much of a problem, but when I lived in Montana, I went through a canister every year. I don't like spraying dogs; I know with their sensitive noses it must really hurt. But I care about my skin, muscles, and tendons more. If people really cared about their animals or neighbors, they would ALWAYS have them leashed.
I agree on the pepper spray. I'll be taking that with me on early morning runs from now on!
About 10 years ago I was on an early morning run about a mile from my house. I've run this route a thousand times but that morning a jack russell terrier came out of nowhere and came right at my feet barking its head off. Scared the crap out of me. There was also a second jack russell closer to the house and it was also barking like crazy but it was on a leash. After gathering my wits and determining that the dogs were just going to bark I realized that holding the leash to the second jack russell was a young woman wearing absolutely nothing but a pair of panties and smoking a cigarette. She came running out to grab the loose dog, who was conveniently running around me right under a street light. I'll never forget watching her boobs bouncing around while she was rounding up the dogs. It was like watching a Felini film. She never said a word.
About 10 years ago I was on an early morning run about a mile from my house. I've run this route a thousand times but that morning a jack russell terrier came out of nowhere and came right at my feet barking its head off. Scared the crap out of me. There was also a second jack russell closer to the house and it was also barking like crazy but it was on a leash. After gathering my wits and determining that the dogs were just going to bark I realized that holding the leash to the second jack russell was a young woman wearing absolutely nothing but a pair of panties and smoking a cigarette. She came running out to grab the loose dog, who was conveniently running around me right under a street light.
I'll never forget watching her boobs bouncing around while she was rounding up the dogs. It was like watching a Felini film. She never said a word.
Oh my goodness. Hahaha!
Sounds pretty damn scary, nothing like that for me. I did however need to sneak out of a girlfriends house one time, her oldman came home early. He was a pretty big dude too, prolly woulda killed me.
So I guess you did a lot of "running" in your girlfriend's house that day, huh? Lol!
i ran into skunk with a cup stuck on its head in the middle of the day felt terrible for the skunk thought it might starve to death snuck up pulled cup from its head tried to spray me but i was gone he booked it also got attacked by a osprey once swooped me twice went back to check my times needless to say ran faster for about 3 laps record setting pace.
Feeling the growl again
Three summers ago I was at the far end of a 12-mile route I did regularly, rural area. As I pass a house I've passed many times, I notice a dog (pit bull) I'd never seen before in the yard near 2 guys working on a truck. The dog comes for me, head low and ears back. All the signs of "no good". I stop running, raise my arms to look big, and yell "STAY". problem is this is the 1% of dogs that is not intimidated, they only take it as a further challenge. The guys are yelling at the dog, but now it's in the road. It brakes in front of me as I mock-charge to stop it, but instead of getting scared that I'm not rolling over as prey it just fakes the other direction, then leaps….straight for my throat.
I get lucky. I throw my hands in front of my neck reflexively, and my right thumb hooks the collar. I pivot away from the dog, grab the back thigh with my other hand, and pile drive the dog into the ditch on the opposite side of the road as hard as I can. It stuns the dog a bit, long enough for the 2 guys to catch up to it before it can come to its senses to attack again.
I find out later that the dog's jaws got close enough to my throat that I have a bruise on my chin from where it's jaw hit.
The dudes are as shook up as I am, say they've only had the dog 2 months as his daughter couldn't keep it. I tell them next time I come by and it's not on a chain, they will have serious issues.
I miss that route, I haven't been back since. I don't have spray and anything more serious is too hard to carry. I need to buy some bear spray this summer for an upcoming trip, I think it will be time to try the route again in case I need to test it.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Half Fanatic #846
On time I was a few miles into my long run on a fairly well-used "Rails to Trails" trail that paralleled a paved county road in a rural area. I heard a dog bark, and out of the corner of my eye saw a dog run out of a yard all the way across the road, headed straight for me. It was a pit bull, and he was followed by a somewhat smaller pit bull. My focus was on the lead dog which I was able to spray with a small canister of dog spray I happened to have. When I did this, the dog stopped just a few feet from me, apparently undecided on what to do, and the second one stopped also. There was nobody at the house to control them and I continued on my run, leaving the dogs on the trail - then realized I'd have to return via the same route. But on the way back the dogs were gone. Don't know if the spray itself worked, or the dog stopped for some other reason, but I felt extremely lucky.
"I don't always roll a joint, but when I do, it's usually my ankle" - unk. "Frankly autocorrect, I'm getting a bit tired of your shirt". I ran half my last race on my left foot!
problem is this is the 1% of dogs that is not intimidated, they only take it as a further challenge. I find out later that the dog's jaws got close enough to my throat that I have a bruise on my chin from where it's jaw hit. I miss that route, I haven't been back since. I don't have spray and anything more serious is too hard to carry. I need to buy some bear spray this summer for an upcoming trip, I think it will be time to try the route again in case I need to test it.
problem is this is the 1% of dogs that is not intimidated, they only take it as a further challenge.
Just happened to see this thread and it brought back the memories of last January. Won't go into detail it's too long, but I was attacked by two dogs that I'd never seen before on my regular route on a icy road. I have no doubt that these two were among the 1% of dogs that could be declared vicious. I narrowly escaped because I carry a small weapon just in case. In this case they broke off the attack at the loud "boom". Dealt with many dogs over the years and this was only the second time that I really thought I was going to get eaten. Don't know if spray would have worked or not, but I threw all my old stuff out and got new because sometimes that's all I carry.
Since it was my regular route I gave it a week break and started running it again. Never seen those dogs again.
The one thing I wish was that I had a heart rate monitor on to see if it had spiked . It took awhile for the adrenaline to work out of my system.