No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

You can put this in the no good deed goes unpunished file.

Our neighbors are on vacation and they have asked us to keep an eye on the house and take in the mail (as they have done for us when we are out of town). A relative will be looking in also to feed the cats. They also have a small dog named Bonnie. I mention Bonnie because today as I was just about to leave for school I noted a small dog that looked like Bonnie out in front of their house. I mentioned it to Dad, 'hey is that Bonnie? Did she get out?'. Couldn't be, he said, because she wasn't at the house. Still it looked an awful lot like her, and she has previously gotten out, and I would hate to think I saw her wander off and not say anything (I would hate it if my dogs got out).

So since I was ready for school I thought I'd walk out there and check it out to see if it was her, by this time the dog, is onto the next street. I walk slowly closer to the dog, and by the way I have described the situation up until now you have guessed that it wasn't Bonnie. No it wasn't. When I was about 10 feet away from the dog, it turned, started to growl, and before I could back away charges me. Now its a small dog, smaller than mine, but I was startled both by its change in direction and the growling it made - so I screamed. It was a nice girly scream I can assure you, two quick yelps actually. I turned to run off, and I assume I could outrun this little dog, except I tripped, and actually I think I almost fell on top of the dog. On the ground with a snarling dog is not where I wanted to be, but I did have my bag with a $150 worth of text books in it, which I grabbed to use in defense, but the dog decended to scamper back towards the neighbors house. I guess getting squished by a clumsy human wasn't on this dog's agenda for the day.

As I wandered back to my house, embarassed, I saw the dog go past my neighbors house and to the next house over, where there was a man walking towards it, the owner I assume. It appeared to me that he had let the dog wander around unattended and thats how it got where it had been (but complaining about unleashed dogs is a hobby of mine, so it may be my bias). My dogs had been out in the yard and we now barking at the dog running past and because of my shouts (or maybe they wanted to alert the neighborhood to my stupidity).

So I have a nice scratched up arm to commemorate my attempt to be a good neighbor. Obviously had I known it was not Bonnie I wouldn't have done it, but given the situation again where it may be her, I'd like to think I'd go check it out just to be sure... but maybe it would be better to send someone else from my family. Someone a little more sure on their feet, and a little less scared.