I dont know how I feel about gun control issues and whatnot, but it is sad to see how quickly people will pull out a gun nowadays. Yesterday, as I was walking back to my apartment with Fiji, off-leash, but right at my hip, a man from behind me yelled, Hey! When I turned around, the man was looking right at me and smiling. Of course, Fiji thought hey meant Fiji, and she started to run towards him. She was wagging her tail, and when she reached him, her butt was in the air, and she was trying to get love. She did not jump on him and always maintained a 3-foot distance from him. Fiji will only jump on you or get closer when invited ( for example, you hold out your hand signaling you want to rub her). The man was scared, however, even though he saw me with Fiji and was the one who called me. He reached into his backpack and said, You better get your dog. Of course, I changed from a brown complexion to a wedding dress white complexion as all the pigment and blood drained from my skin, and I tried not to panic as I used a stern voice to call Fiji. She, of course, being the wonderful dog she is, listened promptly and made her way back toward me. He responded, Good, I can put my gun back. I stayed calm and decided to use this moment to educate the man on dog behavior, and how its not ok to act so quickly with violence. I told him about my travels with Fiji, and how we were best friends and how he almost took a wonderful spirit from the world based on unfounded fears when she was not even growling or showing him aggression in any way. Of course, I understand the fear of dogs. Fiji and I were chased by plenty on the road, but I never once used a gun or even pepper spray to ward them off. I just used a deep loud tone and my bicycle. Dogs of all sizes responded to that. We even had huge German Shepherd follow us for a while. Of course, if a dog had gotten a hold of Fiji, I would have taken more drastic measures and used my pepper spray or hit the dog with something, but it never came to that. I told the man that he would have inflicted on me profound grief had he reacted so quickly and rashly with violence. And you know what, Fiji taught him a lesson as well, because, Fiji, who didnt know how close she had just come to death, came up to him and started whimpering, begging for attention, while I was lecturing the guy. He was won over. He kneeled down to touch her, and Fiji became excited that she finally was receiving some positive attention from him, and the guy was now smiling and apologizing for almost killing what he could now see was a very sweet and loving spirit. Fiji does not normally run up to people unless she thinks she is being called by them. However, this experience has made me fearful, and now Fiji will be on a leash at all times. We live in a world now where it is becoming increasingly easier for people to ignore their humanity and compassion, become engulfed with fear, and take a life without thinking. And that scares the crap out of me. I am the kind of person who could never take a life so easily. This is not a political post, so please do not respond with political opinions. I just wanted to share a scary experience, and let you all know that Fiji is fine, and maybe I taught someone something about not letting fear cloud rational decision-making as we have seen recent in the news. Oh, and a funny end to the story, the man asked me out on a date and for my phone number after the whole incident ( it was the reason he had originally called out to me). No. A million times, no. And yes, that is my final answer.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 00:44:43 +0000
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