Attacked by a dog

I was attacked by a dog today.  The conversation with the owner afterward upset me nearly as much.

This post is for documentation purposes.

I have been walking for exercise in the neighborhood around my house for at least the past 10 years.

Today about 3 PM I was walking past 1300 Tamarisk and a chihuahua came out and barked at me.

Then a medium/large short-haired white dog came around the house from the west side and barked very loudly, growled, and charged me.  Multiple times.

He made physical contact once but did not break the skin.  I noticed later my capris were ripped right above the slight abrasions he made on my right front shin.


I screamed and shouted "No, go home" and clapped my hands to make a loud noise at him.  I later noticed broken blood vessels on my hands from how strongly I had clapped.

I backed away and called 911.

The 911 dispatcher took the information I gave him and sent animal control.

I walked the other direction.

A half hour later I got a call from my house; Mr. Williams with animal control was there and he wanted to talk to me.

Did I want to file a report?  Yes, please.

The owner wanted me to come describe the dog.  So I followed Mr. Williams to 1300 Tamarisk.  When Officer Tim Edwards came outside, he came out swinging.  Metaphorically.


Some of the things Mr. Edwards said are as follows:

• I was harassing them by making this complaint three times
• It was definitely not his dog that caused a problem
• He'd already called the sheriff's office about it
• He'd been gone all day to church and to the store with his kids; he came home the same time Mr. Williams arrived; and the dog was in the fence (Mr. Williams never saw the dog; it was not in the yard when he got there)
• It was not even a pit bull, it was a boxer (I'd never said what kind of dog it was)
• He asked how I would feel if he called the police whenever he saw my dog out and reported that it attacked him.  Then this would just escalate.  (I took that as a threat)
• He told me I lived up the street; this wasn't my neighborhood and maybe I shouldn't be there, maybe I should find another route to walk
• It could not possibly have been his dog; the animals were behind a privacy fence; there was no way for the boxer to have gotten out.
• He said wouldn't I like it better if he came to me if he had a problem with my dog?
• I said I'd tried to do that.  I called and talked to his wife (at work) the first time it happened and I had been very nice about it
• He acknowledged that his wife said I had been nice about it 
• Note of explanation: that phone call was the only occasion I had contacted them; therefore I felt the accusation of harassment at the beginning of the conversation had been unwarranted; the "three times" was in reference to the fact I had told 911 that this was the third time the dog attacked me.  The second time I'd taken no action; all three times the dog acted basically the same)
• He said the dog was not mean; it would not have attacked; maybe it was territorial but it would not have left the yard (it had followed me across the yards of two houses on the other side of the street)
•  He refused to fill out the incident report form as requested by Mr. Williams because "it was not his dog."  Instead he wrote his information on the blank side of a paper.

This conversation lasted about 10-20 minutes, outside in the driveway by Mr. William's animal control truck.  Mr. Edwards did calm down by the end of the conversation.

I, however, was in tears.

The encounter ended with my statement that next time I would record (video) what happened.  Then I went and asked Mrs Bartlett (the neighbor directly across) if they had noticed any of what had happened.

Mrs. Bartlett said she had not seen or heard anything; she'd been in the back of the house watching a movie.  The dog had never troubled her, but she gave me a hug because she could tell I was upset and told me to start carrying a stick.