Several years ago, I was riding a horse for a
friend who was having trouble getting her to go away from the house. The
daughter was afraid of her.
Anyway, I rode about a mile or so down the road and
turned onto a side road. An english bulldog was in the yard and started
following me, barking and snarling all the way, but wagging his...uh...butt. We
weren't running, just maintaining the pace we were doing when we first saw the
dog. He followed for probably a half mile or so. He sounded like he was dying
with all the snarling and snorting. It was all his stubby legs could do to keep
up with the mare's slow trot.
He really wasn't any problem until I turned to go
back to the barn. He attacked. He lunged and bit at the mare's legs and jumped
up to bite at my feet. We were NOT running from him. Just walking, but we had
turned back towards his house.
I didn't feel we had a choice but to run. This dog
was attacking a slow-moving horse that was walking towards him. Facing him down
didn't work. So we ran. His short legs and inefficient respiratory system made
him easy to outrun.
I agree that you shouldn't run from a dog, but this
one kind of surprised me. He seemed like a happy enough character as he followed
us away from his house, snarling beast the other direction.
