Okay, calm down...
Tonight i went outside with Jonas to turn on the sprinkler to water my flowers in the front yard since it hasn't rained in a few days. Jonas LOVES the sprinkler so i let him play for a little bit. not too much though because it was really close to his bed time. we went inside, i put him to bed and a little while later i went back outside to turn off the sprinkler. i got around the sprinkler and about halfway to the faucet to turn off the water when i hear a dog...a dog that sounds VERY close to me. (remember it's dark outside now) i turn and i see probably 2-3 feet from me a Dog, an angry dog, a snarling, bearing his teeth at me and barking dog...now, many may not know this about me, but i am TERRIFIED OF DOGS. a million thoughts went through my head at this moment. I'm about to die, this dog is going to eat me, then go inside and eat Jonas, i wonder if i can even scream, wait, don't let the dog know you're afraid, that's right, be brave, show no fear, dogs can smell fear, I was a stinking pot of fear let me tell you. i managed to squeek out "get out of here" and i waved my flimsy shaking arm to motion the dog out of my yard, all at the same time i'm trying to run backwards because lord knows i don't want to turn my back on this dog because then he WILL CERTAINLY eat me. After i yelled "get out of here", i saw the people 2 houses down from me coming out of their door and looking in my direction. They yelled to the dog "get over here, come on" and they whistled. the dog i guess went toward them because i'm a little fuzzy after that from all the tears rushing down my "oh so brave-show no fear" face. I made it safe back inside and i have never shaken and cried so hard in my life. I started to think of what could have been. What if Jonas had been in between that dog and me. Would i have walked toward the object of my greatest fear to save my son? would i have just frozen in fear? If i had shown that much fear in front of Jonas, would he be terrified of Dogs the rest of his life like me? (Jonas is Pretty good around dogs. he will hold his hand out to most dogs so he can pet them even if they are strange dogs, we're careful to not let him get to close to strange dogs though) I called Jonathan (He had not gotten home yet), and told him what happened. He told me i had to call the police and tell them. He said there is a leash law. I wasn't sure, and since the people had seen me, they knew what house i lived at, would they try to "get back at me" if they got in trouble? Jonathan convinced me to call the police. so i called police dispatch. i told the dispatcher what happened. He sounded confused as to why i was crying and breathing irregularly. he said "did the dog bite you?" i said "no, the dog hadn't touched me, i'm just REALLY afraid of dogs!" he said that's fine, there is a leash law and i can send an officer over there if you want. i said that would be great. so...a lady officer comes over and i tell her what happens. she said, yes, there is a leash law in Rutherford county and in Smyrna, so it's sort of a Double Leash law. and she said if the dog bared his teeth at me, that made it a "viscous" dog. and made it a more serious offence. I told her i didn't want anything to happen to that dog. i told her i was afraid the people would know who called the police and be mad at me for getting them in trouble. she said nothing would happen to them tonight, that they would get a warning to keep their dog on a leash and if it ever happened again that anyone called on their dog then they would get a ticket with a fine. So that made me feel a little better. I feel ashamed because i'm afraid of dogs sometimes. I love Bird's dog Magnum. I've gotten to know him, and i know what to expect from Magnum. I Know for a fact Magnum isn't going to bite me as long as i don't try to take anything from his mouth. I'll even play fetch with him as long as he drops the stick or ball on the ground in front of me so i don't have to take it from him. I'm generally okay with Uncle Randy and Aunt Ellen's dogs. They are pretty big German Shepards, but they barely even bark and they know not to jump up on people. They just smell me when i come in, and they leave me alone. My mind is just stuck on what would i have done if Jonas were out there with me when that dog came up...I have to get over this fear