Friendly Attack By Large Dog

A few days ago, I was running a couple of laps in my neighborhood.  On the first "backstretch" headed back toward my house I detected movement from the left out of the corner of my eye.  Very soon, no peripheral vision was needed as a very, very large, brown dog came charging across a lawn and out into the street, making a beeline to where I was heading.  When we met, it jumped up on me.  Since I wasn't being torn to shreds by a hostile dog, I took this as a sign of friendship on the part of this "beast" and rolled with the experience, sweet-talking it with language and a gentle tone I have long used on my own dogs.  And I did this while still running, of course. My new gargantuan companion decided to go on a short jog with me as well.  When I finally was ready to go back into my house, my pal was waiting and ready to go inside his new "home".  I held his collar and, after giving him a big hug (he really was quite affectionate), found the owner's address and phone number on a tag hanging from it: the dog had escaped his kennel in his yard and had already gone way down the road from his proper home.  The owner, obviously flustered at this probably-repeat canine Houdini act, drove by, thanked me, and took old Jake into her car.

Jake reminded me of another dog with his sociability: T-Bone from back in my childhood.  But T-Bone was relatively small and didn't practically knock people down by jumping on them or scare them by charging at them.

Other people besides me are using the road to walk dogs (properly on leashes), walk with babies in strollers, or just walk/jog for exercise or basic transportation.  They don't need inconsiderate dog owners who are careless about letting their dogs run loose.  Especially when they are humungous, regardless of their ultimately friendly nature. Still, Jake was quite a friend to me that day: I wonder whether he'll remember me should he get loose again.  What am I saying...OF COURSE he's gonna get loose again!