'twas the 1st day of summer - 21 june 2011 and my daughters and i were on our regular daily walk. the weather was just right and warm as it heated up but windy and breezy, so loved it. as we walked in our neighborhood on the side walks, lo and behold, in about half an hour or so, an untamed dog pushed open the fense gate and charged at us for no reason. 1st encounter, and he attacked me straight; the owner was standing right there, unable to control the dog.
I started to scream while the dog was still chasing me and barking loud. I tripped and fell down from the side walk right onto the tarmac Burnham road, in Lansing, IL. The on coming traffic stood still looking at a drama on a broad day light hour of 1:30pm. The ordeal lasted for sometime as i got hurt, bruised and tried to stand up, remove my backpack trying to defend myself. i was also worried that since i am down, the dog might get a good size of my flesh in his mouth, so i tried to push him with my hand, feet, and my backpack. i managed to get up and thank God that the dog didnt succeed at taking my flesh but he was adamant. he tried to go round and round as i also, in defense, screamed, swung my backpack going round and round. the dog owner managed to chase him away from me, but just for a while. 2nd encounter, since he didnt think the leashing of dog was necessary, the dog again tried to attack me as i was gathering myself and seeing which way to go as i checked my bruises. again, the dog tried to have the same game for few more minutes and the dog owner again came to chase him away from me. i was thankful that no car hit me, or hooted; they were patient. i managed to walk away on the opposite side of the road, and lo and behold, 3rd encounter, the dog ran to chase me 3rd time now crossing both sides of the traffic onto the opposite side and again my defense charged up and i continued to scream, swing my backpack to chase him away. The traffic stopped watching the drama as one of the onlookers screamed, 'Leash your dog" and the dog owner now came all the way to the opposite side walk to chase back his dog and tried to leash him.
Paranoid, shocked and hurt, i started walking away from there to a place of safety and saw a parking lot at an intersection; just sat on the pavement in a shade; called 911 but couldnt hear them in the traffic rush so the police called back and left a message so i called back to report the incident. she asked if i needed the ambulance, but i didnt think it was that bad, so i declined the offer but i still took her offer on sending an officer to report the incident. sadly we waited for more than half an hour; meanwhile, all of a sudden we saw a good samaritan/gentleman pull his car to us ward and asked if we needed any assistance as he thought we kinda looked new in the neighborhood. That was so sweet; we said we were on our walk exploring the new 'hood and got chased by a dog so we were waiting for the police to come and report the incident and he noticed my bruises. he said, ok and left. as we waited further, the gentleman came back again after sometime but this time he brought cold drinks of two large size strawberry lemonades with cool ice. Thank you, God, and thank you, nice stranger, unknown gentleman, who made us feel that God was right there, protecting us from the cars, from the dog and not only that but sent an angel to attend to us. What more can one ask for?
Went home since police were busy and couldnt come on the scene til then and the police station was far so went next day, noticed the house number to report. After a long wait, the animal cruelty officer came and took down the details, promising us that he was going there right away to give them a written warning.
but, on the dog chase, i almost felt like a demonic attack as well as an angelic visit after, both in a same hour of incident. God hasnt promised a smooth ride but a protecting side amidst the adversities and this was evident this summer day.
Thank God, that dog was neither able to bite me nor take my flesh; thank God, that i got chased and none of my daughters; thank God, that cars stood still patiently and didnt race up, hit me or hoot. Thank God, for the stranger/angel gentleman that showed God's loving care. God is good, all the time.
Dog owners, please save us and your dogs a trouble and yourself too. We need safe neighborhood, not only from thieves and robbers but from wild dog chases too. Please curb your dogs! a friendly rightly said, 'He loves dogs but not the dog owners."
Copyright by Kalpana Christian Sharma (Mrs.)
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