Yesterday I had one of the most horrific experiences of my life. I was waiting for my friend to pick me up from her local station car park. She lives in a small, sleepy town in Surrey - the kind of place that you would expect to see jumble sales organised by the local vicar's wife or families out for a Sunday afternoon bike ride. It is certainly not the sort of place where you expect to see and be attacked by 2 snarling Staffordshire Bull terriers. Yet this is what happened to me.
I was standing waiting with my dog Norbert, on his lead, sat beside me. From out of the blue the two terriers ran at him, teeth bared, snarling, biting. Instinctively I tried to run away with him but they were not giving up. I kept him close so that I could kick them away. I was horrified at even having to do that...being an animal lover there is nothing more horrible than having to kick an animal. But I had to. There was nothing I wouldn't do to try to save him. The blows just glanced off them. They had no impact whatsoever. Knowing the breed as I do, I knew I had to stop them 'locking on' to him. Then he would be dead.
But I was really powerless against them - they ran at me and knocked me down and I let go of Norbert. That was when they pounced on him - going in for the kill. A woman in the car park was beeping her horn furiously, I was screaming at the top of my lungs. Without any thought I grabbed both of their collars and dragged them off him. Terrified, the woman ran out of her car, got my dog and put him in the car and jumped back in herself. Leaving me with two snarling brutes in my hands still desperate to get him.
Now I am not a very strong person. In fact I really don't know how I did it. But I do know that my arms ache and my ribs ache. In fact all of me aches. I let go of the dogs hoping they would run away - but they didn't - they ran at the car jumping up and snarling. The woman had to drive away with me running to keep up behind her. Still they followed until finally we lost them.
Three things from the whole experience stand out to me. Firstly, you just don't know your own strength...or stupidity. I was very lucky not to have been mauled. Secondly, what has happened to community? I was screaming for 5 minutes in a largely residential area and nobody came to help. Thank God for the lady in her car but even she was practically crying when she apologised to me for not getting out to help - she was simply too terrified. Thirdly, there have been many media campaigns about dangerous dogs recently with unprecedented numbers of children being killed by dogs that just suddenly go crazy. I don't blame the dogs you see, I blame the owners. With Big Brother we really saw the power of the media. Now I hope that the media can do more with their campaigns for responsible dog ownership.
PS: To the wonderful person (you know who you are) that helped me deal with all my emotional outpourings in the aftermath, thank you.
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