This morning I was biking to coffee with Winnie, my dog, running alongside…while Kelsey, my wife, drove our baby Willa and her son Leo. It was a nice cool sunny morning.

About two blocks from the cafe, Winnie got attacked by a dog who jumped out of a truck. I broke up the attack and Winnie is okay but it was scary! He ran off and luckily Kelsey was there to drive after him and get him into the car. Winnie was shaken and squealing in fear and pain as he was attacked, the dog ripping at his face and neck, with me frantically trying to break it up, then pinning the dog to the ground by basically laying on him (thankfully the dog was not human aggressive) and finally releasing his clamped-down jaw with a trick I thankfully learned from Cesar Millan.

Luckily we both came out okay! Winnie had a cut and was shaken and I was shaken but okay. I had blood on my finger and a little pain but luckily it washed off, was probably the dogs’ blood. I had to lay on top of the dog for like two long minutes! A kind salon owner came over and put my leash on the attacking dog, (I’d released Winnie so he could run away) and we took the dog to a vet that happened to be across the street while we waited nearly an hour for Animal Control after I called 911. The poor dog’s owner just drove off, I think didn’t want to get in trouble, and is likely to go to a rescue, but the officer told me she thought he’d get euthanized. He is extremely dog aggressive (wanted to attack another dog at the vet), so would need expert training, but showed no human aggression.

The salon owner, Cary, was kind and patient and helped make a tough morning manageable and tinged with caring…he not only came over to a dangerous dog and put my leash on him and took him to the vet with me, waiting for 15 minutes while they found an empty kennel, but waited an hour to talk with the Animal Control, and drove me to get my keys from Kelsey who was caring for the children and then to pick up Winnie from our car.

I was afraid Winnie was going to be torn up and bloody but he came through with only one cut that I could find (the vet inspected him briefly as well). There was white hair on the sidewalk, so perhaps his thick husky hair protected him somehow. He’s cheered up and relaxed immensely.

[photo from yesterday, not related to what happened today. I love you Winfield!]