Wow, it's been almost a year since this thread has seen action! And I can't believe it'll be five years this December since RSColonel_31st started it!

Looking back over the pages, some of what I posted makes me cringe. What I'm about to post might also make me cringe one day in retrospect, but I've been given permission and it's fresh on my mind so here goes...

A couple of weeks ago my wife was chased and bitten by our next door neighbor's two dogs, one a German Sheppard mix (mainly looks like one) and the other slightly smaller, but still a full-sized dog. She was standing at our mailbox when they got out at his malfunctioning(?) car gate (his property is fenced which is very rare in the rurals) and attacked her. She ran down our gravel driveway (about 250' [76m]) with them biting her legs.

Before I continue, I want to say that we have the most excellent neighbors. This neighbor (with previous wife) was the one who sold us our house (the builder lived behind us and passed away recently) over 10 years ago, then built a new house on an adjacent property. We texted him at work and he immediately sent his wife over to check on mine (his wife also working from home), and then he came over after work to see about her. Everything is cool and no one saw this coming as we all thought his dogs were all bark and no bite. BTW, I haven't seen nor heard his dogs since that day, I believe he pinned them and then sent them to even more rural family, but I'm not sure. We asked him to keep them under rabies observation for two weeks, even though they're vaccinated (as advised by our doctor) and we have no reason to think he hasn't complied. We don't see our neighbors often being on 1.5 acres, along with full shrubbery along his fenceline.

So here's where the story begins with me...

Wife walks through the back door with a combination of tears and shock, then says, "I was just bitten." I didn't see a problem at first until she turned around (had a dog at each leg, tearing jeans on both legs)...




A few days later, some swelling and much bruising, but healing...



Our GP thinks her bluejeans helped soften the blow.


Recycling a 3 year-old pic from my Blue Angels thread (she hasn't changed)...



She's not an intimidating size for this type of situation, but what I believed helped her (I wouldn't say saved her, because she doesn't believe they were viciously attacking like in 007's "Moonraker", just chasing and snip biting) was that she at least has some speed and athleticism for a 52 year-old woman. She really can run, and apparently even on gravel and without tripping with dogs biting her. But as with her size, we'll never know if her running just excited them even more (she obviously didn't outrun them). I'm just glad she's doing ok now and hate to think about how much worse it could have been if she'd had tripped or if the dogs had been even more aggressive.

The lesson for me is to do what we can to stay in shape and to stay strong (and fast ) because you never know when you might need some fitness. We feel the same when walking the streets of New Orleans and NYC, always know where you are and know where you shouldn't be, always pay attention to your surroundings and always ALWAYS be ready to run like hell if you need to. You just never know.