Divide and conquer

The weather has been great for running: it's apparently slightly unseasonably cold, and I love it!  Despite lingering inflammation, I ran a bit over an hour with the dog this morning.  We were running for about 70 minutes, but at least a few of that was walking/standing in place/bossing around other people's dogs.  Yep.

We ran the goat loop for the third time today, and I forgot to check out the goats!  Anyway, there were no issues for the first two miles, and then we came across two large loose dogs.  However, they were either well-trained or subject to an electric fence: they stayed behind an invisible line halfway down their driveway.  Cool!

We turned the corner and another dog trotted out into the road, just halfway as we passed it.  Cool.  Oh, but then its buddy turned up and then ensued about 200 metres of showboating, but both dogs were tubby and I wasn't really worried.  We stuck to our jogging pace and they never caught up to us, and they gave up soon.

We turned another couple of corners and then I heard a ruckus ahead.  Three dogs tore down a hill towards us.  Loose dogs appear larger than life at first; I suppose an adrenal kickstart amplifies.  One appeared to be my dog's size, and the other two were smaller. 

At any rate, they were blocking our path, so I sadly turned around and we headed back the way we came, toward a large hill that we would now have to ascend.  Joy did not put a spring into my step, and the dogs drew nearer.  These guys had a wider range than the last bunch.  After a couple of minutes, I started to worry (not enough to pick up the pace much), but a minute or so later, I sensed uncertainty.  Ah-hah! 

The biggest dog was the first to drop back.  I started encouraging them, hey, you've come this far, what's stopping you?  come with us! etc, plus a few expletives.   I beckoned them and the hound and the smaller terrier took the bait at first; meanwhile, I heard a distant voice calling, and I suppose the big dog went home because we didn't see it again.

The hound came closer, and its demeanour changed abruptly from snarling to simpering.  Perhaps it finally got too far from home, too far off its turf.  I stopped running and called it over; it came hesitantly, tail wagging, and it and my dog sniffed each other.  Meanwhile, the terrier turned around.

I grabbed a thick stick just in case the big one popped out of nowhere onto us--I've never struck a dog with a stick, but some dogs are intimidated by the shape and/or resulting stance--and we turned around too.  I really didn't want to run back up the hill now behind us again!  We coaxed the hound to come with us, and we eventually got to the terrier's yard, and the terrier barked and barked but wouldn't step out of its yard anymore.   I'm not sure if the big dog also came from there, or if all three dogs even live in the same household, but the terrier's yard was in front of the only house displaying the Confederate flag I've seen so far around here.

The big dog didn't pop out of nowhere, and the hound and the terrier didn't follow us past the yard this time.

We might collect a prophylactic stick prior to that stretch next time, although the dogs seem pretty reasonable--the trick will be to deflate the large one first.

We ran home and I did more weights, no Zwow although I did do some single-leg squats in Z's honour.