Fireworks are illegal in Orange, but 4 or 5 houses down the street, it becomes Garden Grove, where they ARE legal. The kids had some money to burn (literally), and decided to buy some fireworks. I needed to come along because one must be 18 in order to buy said FW.
I decided to bring the dog along and walk to the stand.
We'd gotten about 100 yards down the street when we noticed a German Shepherd in a neighbor's driveway--unleashed and unattended. We proceeded anyway, not confronting the other dog, just minding our own business. After we passed the house, Alyx said, "Mom, he's following us; pick up Asher." I hesitated, not wanting to do anything that might provoke an attack. In that moment, however, the German Shepherd DID attack!
Of course, we yelled at him; fortunately, he released Asher immediately, and I picked him up. I turned around and went all "Dog Whisperer" on the GS, shouting "No!" and pointing my finger at him and stepping toward him. I was nervous as all get out, but tried not to show it. The dog turned around and went back.
Meanwhile, Alyx had run back to the house where the dog had been, and banged on the door. When a woman answered the door, she yelled, "Your dog just attacked my dog!" The woman said, "We don't have a dog." The German Shepherd had returned by then, and Alyx pointed to him. "That dog!"
Turned out that he was visiting for the 4th of July. The owner hadn't realized he was outside. He apologized profusely and gave me his name and phone number, in case some damage came to light later. The bite didn't break Asher's skin; there doesn't seem to be any injury.
Now get this: the owner's name is Bitderback--which is exactly what his dog did!
So we took a walk we don't usually take, in a direction we don't usually go, and encountered a dog who usually isn't there, but it all turned out ok in the end. Whew!
Asher got a haircut a couple weeks ago; cuter that ever, don'tcha think?
