Dog Attack

The path I take for my bike ride takes me through a park near my house. It's one of the biggest parks in town and has some beautiful bike trails running through it. I have only been there once but I had a great time exploring parts of it. The path winds through deep woods and over quiet streams, and everything is still deep green, even in October.

As I rode by the dog run, I heard some yelling and ferocious barking. I saw a Doberman Pincer viciously attacking another dog. Both owners were pulling at them to separate them but to no avail. I immediately rode over to jump the fence and intervene. I spent enough time trying to catch and subdue an unruly 140lb chocolate lab that I knew I could handle this. I planned to run over, pick up the big dog and toss it over the fence. I know how to grab a dog so it can't reach me to bite me and didn't think it would be a problem. The owners were just going about it the wrong way. You can't hope to restrain a dog by holding them. You have to pick them up where their legs don't touch the ground. On their back in your arms they are helpless.

I found out there was another much bigger problem with my hopes of helping out. I hadn't been riding a bike for years and my legs were not used to the mile or so I had ridden already. They felt like jello by the time I got to the fence and wouldn't give me the usual thrust to jump a fence in a single hop like I usually can. I was looking for the entrance when the noise died down and the dogs calmed down. No one was hurt so I hopped back on my bike and went back on my way.