Blargh! Anger. WTF is wrong with people?
I have a beautiful three year old lab/boxer mix (a boxador) named Akiko. She dislikes most men, loves being brushed, and thinks she's the sneakiest, most wonderful little thief/escape artist in the entire world. Please note that she is not the recipient of my anger tonight.
I like to take Kiki out once a day, usually after work. Sometimes we meander down to the pier, sit on the ledge and watch the waves roll in on the beach. Sometimes we go to the post office to drop off a letter or a postcard, or down to the smaller lake and trails a few blocks from our house, or just exploring places we've been a thousand times. Tonight, though it was almost ten o'clock when I got home, I decided that we could go out for a super quick run. I donned my shorts, changed into a more comfortable bra and a T-shirt and we set out. I was planning to go down the back street where we live, and go up to the mainstreet, running either to the grocery store and back (about a twenty-five minute walk both ways), or along the other backstreet past the school and by the convenience store.
We were about two and a half blocks when Rapist-Dog appeared.
Kiki and I had our first run-in with RD about a month ago. He's a big, super sweet chocolate lab with a chain collar. Last time we saw him we were down by the high school. He came, alone, from around a bend and got all up in Kiki's face, completely ignoring me. Obviously I was somewhat frightened. How else would you feel if a persistent, adult male dog without an owner came up and wouldn't leave your dog alone? I was nervous, but not really upset until he mounted her.
When she was a puppy, I took Kiki to a vet to be spayed. AS ALL GOOD ANIMAL OWNERS SHOULD DO UNLESS THEY ARE CERTIFIED BREEDERS. I never worried about any male dogs approaching us for that reason.
Obviously, I freaked out and jerked her out of the way, though I was too worried about this strange dog to try pushing him away, so I just yelled at him and maneuvered Kiki around him until one of the owners' kids came and pulled him away.
I dubbed him the Rapist Dog, took Kiki for a longer walk than usual to make her feel better, and gave her a treat. Despite knowing that sex is a very different thing for animals than it is for people, I was upset. Akiko may be a dog, but she is like a child to me. I see to her needs, I raised her, trained her, play with her, brush her, etc. It freaked me out, especially since she was also very upset and kept trying to run away from him.
Tonight he returned, and this time his owner didn't show up.
This time I was less hesitant if only because he started going at it the second he caught up with us. At first I tried to pull Kiki away, but I wound up kicking him off of her (which he didn't even seem to feel). We ran across the street, and he still followed, continuously trying to knock Kiki to the ground. No matter how many times I pulled him off or jerked Kiki out of the way, he just kept going at her.
Two and a half blocks of panicking, dashing only to be almost tripped/knocked over, kicking an animal (which I swore I would never to do any animal, ever), and twisting and turning to keep him away, I finally made it home. Kiki ran into the house and straight to her bed in my closet in the back of the house and this beast actually followed us inside, me yelling at him the whole time. My mother kicked him out.
This dog is super people friendly. He didn't growl orsnap at me even once, no matter if I pushed him, kicked him or blocked him. If it had been under different circumstances I probably would have loved him. As it is, I'm pissed. Animals can escape sometimes, but no one even seemed to come looking for him. It was like he was just left to wander the streets.
If I ever run across that dog's owner again, (s)he will be getting bitched out like never before. Very rarely do I get angry at other people, but this is just utter bullshit. They need to a) neuter their dog and b) pay closer attention to him. The dog isn't the problem here, the owner is for being neglectful.
Ugh. I'm not even sure if I can work on my new fic now. And I was so excited to start chapter two.
I'm too tired to edit this. Jusyt sargzetrjyikmaezr'\gdfl,,.