[nagdu] Guide dog attack in Wyoming

[AnnaLisa Anderson]

I'm glad this woman's dog seems to have not been too traumatized by this.
Yeah, that the woman with the attacking dog didn't take any responsibility,
that makes my blood boil too!     I had a similar experience with my
previous dog Megan.  We were coming out of my driveway on our way to work,
and this dog comes racing toward us from across the street.  There is a dog
park across the street from us, and this woman and a friend of hers were on
their way into the park  with her three dogs.  One of the dog saw us coming
and broke away from the woman.  I didn't think much of this dog coming
running at us, because we had met this dog before in the park, so I thought
she was just coming over to say hello.  So we stopped and waited for her,
figuring we would exchange pleasantries and be on our way.  All of a sudden,
this dog was snarling at Megan and then jumped on her, trying to bite her.
Of course Megan was in harness and totally unprepared, so she wasn't ready
to defend herself.  Megan was not young then either, somewhere around 10 or
11 years old but still working fine.  The woman came running and managed to
grab her dog's leash and get her away from Megan.  Fortunately she did take
responsibility and apologized all over the place, and she did pay Megan's
vet bill.  I know she felt horrible, but this wasn't the first time her dog
had attacked another dog.  Her dog didn't attack anybody in the park where
it is neutral territory, but outside the park gate, where I suppose she
figured she was still in protect mode or something.  The woman told me the
dog was a rescue and had been abused previously, so that may have played
into the dog's aggressive behavior, I don't know.  Megan was okay; I took
her into the house and she immediately went into the bedroom and lay down as
if  she wanted sanctuary, so I did my best to reassure her and gave both of
us some time to recover.  I took her to the vet right away and they gave her
antibiotics to stave off infection just in case, then we went to work.  It
wasn't until we were at work that I found some bite marks on her back just
above her tail, which I cleaned up as best I could.  Fortunately she had no
lasting effects from the attack.  In fact, we met some friendly dogs on the
way out of the vet's office, and she was perfectly fine with them.  She did,
however, remember the dog who attacked her, and whenever she saw or heard
her, Megan didn't want to walk out of the driveway to go to work.  I didn't
blame her, but I didn't coddle her either, I encouraged her to keep moving,
though it was hard not to let my nervousness go down the leash.  This dog
had a very distinctive bark, so I always knew she was there too.  That woman
always walked her dogs at the park around the same time I was leaving for
work.  I don't know whatever became of that dog; I'm thinking the woman had
to put her to sleep eventually because she was too aggressive with other
dogs.  I didn't see them again after a while.

AnnaLisa and Sundance, who fortunately has never been attacked