Yesterday I decided I would take Logan for a walk around the block. I bundled him up in the stroller and headed out the door. We stopped first at the neighbor across the street to my side yard. (I live on a corner piece.) His name is Glenn. Glenn was out mowing his yard and we haven't talked in many days because I've been in the house taking care of Logan every day. When he saw me he stopped his mower and came over to see the baby and talk. His dog, Cindy, which looks very similar to my dog, but with a pointier nose, was tied up on her lead. She wagged her tail and greeted me happily. I left Glenn's and headed around the block. As I came around the corner down at the opposite end of the block I saw what I thought was Cindy standing in the road. It confused me a little because she had just been tied up, although as I went around the first corner I did see Christina (Glenn's daughter) coming home from school, so I just figured she let Cindy off the chain.

I spoke to the dog saying, "Hey Cindy, how'd you get around here so fast?". She didn't respond at all, not even to wag her tail. I was surprised by this, because she is the type to always wag if she sees someone she knows. As I got closer to the dog I realized that it was not Cindy. The dog was just standing there staring at me and the stroller.

I am terrified of dogs, a fear I try to keep in check. (See profile picture of my own very large dog). However, when I see dogs I don't know I have to really work at not being afraid. This dog was just staring at me and the stroller. I tried a friendly greeting, but it just kept staring. It never wagged or even really moved until I got within about ten feet. Then it slowly came towards me and the baby, never stopping its stare. I started to become panicky. There was no one on the street and no one in the yards nearby. I tried to keep my cool and just keep walking with the stroller, but inside I was terrified.

The dog came over to the stroller and looked in and sniffed. Then it walked around the stroller and did that again. It never acted friendly, never wagged its tail. Everytime it looked at me it was with that same stare. I just kept walking and trying to get to the corner which would turn me back toward home. It circled the stroller and looked in a couple of more times. I was starting to really panic. Then he came over and reached in under the bar that goes across the front and grabbed the baby's blankets and tugged, pulling the blankets and baby toward the front of the stroller. At this point I wanted to scream, but didn't want to aggravate the dog, so I just yelled, "NO!!!" very firmly. The dog backed off a little and started staring at me again and barked and growled.

By this point I am truly terrified and didn't know what to do so I just kept walking toward home. I kept thinking, "Glenn ...come out to the side driveway", trying to will him to come within view. I didn't want to run or scream or really panic because I didn't know what the dog would do. I was afraid to try and pick the baby up out of the stroller, because what if the dog knocked me down?  I didn't look at the dog again, but just started walking looking straight ahead toward the end of the street where I was going. I kept hoping Glenn would come out to the street. I knew he was mowing the lawn and wouldn't hear me if I yelled and I was too terrified to yell anyway. As I got to the middle of the block a car came around the corner. It was someone who lives in the house in the middle of the block and as he went to turn in his driveway, the dog retreated some from being right behind me. The guy looked at me funny, but drove into his garage at the back of his property, so I just kept walking, glad to have the dog back a little further. As I got to the yard next to Glenn's the other neighbor's dogs started barking madly and that brought Glenn out to the edge of his side driveway. Normally those dogs drive me crazy with their barking, but this was one time I was grateful for it.

The dog I didn't know had caught up with me and was walking about five feet behind me by this time. As I approached the actual yard where the dogs were barking he stopped and looked at them and then ran back to where I first saw him. Glenn could see I was shook up and asked me about it. I told him what had happened.  He said that dog actually belongs to the people at the opposite corner, the house that the dog was in front of when I first saw him. I guess normally he is inside the fence.

I talked to my son about it and he had a similar experience with the same dog, thinking he was Cindy, but then finding out he wasn't. The dog came after him on his bike. I'm going to talk to the owners, because I think they need to be more responsible, especially since the dog was very skinny (ribs showing) for his size. He looks like some kind of lab/pitbull mix. I'm not one of those people who is afraid of a dog just because it's a pitbull or pitbull mix. My daughter used to have one and so have several other people I've known and they are friendly, sweet dogs when raised as pets. If this dog had acted friendly in any way, even just to wag its tail, I wouldn't have felt so afraid, but it's the way he just kept staring.

Gotta go! The baby needs my attention. He's exercising his lungs!haha.