It's interesting to have an experience and have it change the way you see things forever. It happened to me in the most unusual way possible.
It was the Fall season - the busiest time of the school year when everyone had to adapt to their new classes and start working on month-long projects. My friend and I were scheduled to participate in track and field competitions with another campus. We used to take long walks or slow jogs through the local park every morning in order to prepare for these competitions.
We made a daily goal to walk and jog 20 laps around the track. On some occasions, we would walk slowly around the wide baseball field that was located behind a small forest that bordered the park. This field was surrounded by lots of pine trees and vegetation. And the end of the baseball field there was a very clean, multi-room restroom that people used from time to time. If you go to the baseball field about two hours before school starts, the air is fresh and calm, but place is nearly dark. This makes it the perfect spot for allowing your dogs to run freely. There was a leash law in place, but it wasn't really enforced because every dog owner made sure that their dogs were obedient.
Most of the time, the dog owners would pull in their dog when they saw another person walking within 25-50 feet of their dog. Other times, the dog owners would just stay in an isolated part of the baseball field to avoid meeting any other dogs or people. This is where they would frequently train various dogs to do the basic tasks like sitting, standing, and running for something. We have a small neighborhood, so we basically know every dog that visits that field.
One day, my friend and I made the yummy mistake of eating lots of mangoes and drinking too much orange juice before our morning walk. After only one lap around the track, we both decided to go to the restroom located at the end of the baseball field. As we entered the baseball field, we saw two dog owners that we were unfamiliar with. They were directly in line with the shortest path to the bathroom. I decided to try and hurry past them because I really wanted to go poo so badly.
Then, I heard a low growl from the direction of the dog owners which were located about 50 - 60 feet away from us. The owners showed their flashlight in my direction and I saw two dogs. One dog was circling around the male owner and the female owner's dog was running at full speed towards us with its teeth bared. It stopped just 10 feet in front of us and started barking loudly with its back hairs standing up. Before I could step backwards, the dog ran around us and lunged at our legs. I almost pooped in my pants in utter fear.
It's teeth were about to grip my friends leg like a vice, before the female owner came and called her dog back. She was a person who looked to be in her early 50's. She laughed hysterically and said "aww, you like it, haha, good dog". Then, she whispered, "go, go, get 'em, hehe". The dog bounded back towards us and we stumbled backwards. My friend was able to yell, "hey, keep your dog on leash! We're just trying to walk peacefully here!" The lady stopped laughing and got her dog back under control.
When we finally reached the bathroom, I had lost all desire to take a dump in the toilet. The same happened to my friend. We had to spend the rest of the day with a severe stomach-ache. My friend wondered what we could have done better in that situation. It was nearly impossible to just take the long way around because we could barely hold our poo any longer. My friend later explained the situation to animal control and asked about how we could protect ourselves from aggressive dogs. They told him that he would need to hire a lawyer and know his legal rights before going to the bathroom. When my friend told me about this, I replied, "are you serious?"
We were just attacked by a dog that almost grinded your legs up with it's teeth! Supposedly, it should be the dog owner's responsibility to keep their dog on leash and under control. My friend called animal control again and was told that they wanted to help, but they couldn't do anything before business hours. Then, they promptly hung up. He also called other animal agencies with a new question. "Can I do anything to protect myself against an agressive dog that is blocking my path to the public bathroom, considering that I want to poop really badly?"
In all their responses, they stuttered and said, "nuh.nu..no you can't protect yourself because, you know, its a dog. W..We..well, you know it might have just been playing, hehe. Just hire a lawyer". My friend exclaimed, "What? What should I do if it bites me?" They simply replied, "um, we can't say anything about that. It's confidential". For the next few weeks, my friend and I casually walked around the neighboorhood trying to avoid that baseball field. We asked around and soon found out that other joggers and dog walkers had also been avoiding that field because of those new dog owners whose dogs were wild, uncontrollable, and agressive. But the town cared about dogs more than humans. This event changed our perspectives forever. We constantly walk in fear that at any moment, that same dog will appear before us. And when it happens, we might not be able to walk again.
What would you do in this situation?