STAY!! NO!!

sunday marked the second time that iris, zoe and i encountered a stray dog during our walk. the first time went much more smoothly - i noticed the stray pit bull, picked up the dogs and calmly walked back to the house. even though the dog followed us the entire time, he too was rather calm and didn't put up a fight when we went inside.

yesterday, however, was much more chaotic. i took them on their afternoon walk during a slight lull in the rain. they went about their business and we were walking back - literally only one house away from the sweet sanctity of home! when seemingly out of nowhere, i see a giant schnauzer on steroids sprint in our direction. i was pretty out of it (a pleasant combination of a major allergy migraine, felt lightheaded from the staining, and dehydration), so my reaction time was slow and didn't pick them up before he got to us. instead i reacted by yanking iris and zoe's leashes up and away. poor zoe was suspended in mid-air for most of the ordeal, being yanked in a bunch of different directions while i repeatedly yelled "NO!! STAY!!" at the giant beast. the dog had a collar with a tag, but that doesn't mean much in this city, plus i've never seen him before. i was not about to reach my hand in while he was trying to smell them and risk them being attacked or a round of rabies shots for myself. eventually i managed to get iris and zoe up the steps, but i had to unlock the door without looking at what i was doing, since by this point, the dog followed us up the stairs. i once read a story about a stray pit bull that followed an owner home, got inside and killed her cat. i was not keen on repeating this story so i yelled once more and got all of us inside safely.

dealing with a stray dog is stressful, to say the least - afterwards i was shaky and nearly started crying. stray dogs put other dogs and their owners in danger. since this dog had a collar, i am assuming it had an owner... but do not own a dog if you are unable to properly care for it and take responsibility for its actions - i never once heard or saw the possible owner coming to look for it during our ordeal. what if our dogs or others in the neighborhood got attacked?