close call!

We had a near tragedy today!! Zizou is OK, I repeat - he's OK!


We left the house this morning to walk downtown to the market taking advantage of the sunshine! It has been raining for the past two days non-stop and this morning dawned bright and sparkly and cold. The grass was all crunchy and the mud was solid. I decided this was perfect for walking the back way along the forest trails as the mud would be frozen. It was absolutely glorious. I took Zizou off the leash and he trotted happily along beside me. We came around a bend in the trail and a family with a mid-sized dog was approaching. The dogs met, sniffed, and relaxed. This has happened many times and Zizou is getting better at socializing with bigger dogs without freaking out so much. I was keeping an eye on the interaction between the two when suddenly, two much bigger dogs streaked upon us (literally)! Zizou bolted and they were after him. One pounced on him and he managed to come out of the roll heading back towards me. The other one nailed him and then they both had him down. He was yelping for help and I was kicking one away and pulling the other one. As soon as he was free he started running and the free one was after him again. This went on for what seemed like forever and I thought Zizou was a gonner. With a desperate lunge (still holding one of the dogs back and trying to kick the other), I managed to grab Zizou's hair and lifted him to safety. I don't even know what part of his body I was holding up but I knew it didn't matter. One of the dogs made a final leap (at me this time) and I smashed my hand into his face.

The stupid owners were just standing there watching all of this and not trying to grab their dogs. I was in shock or I would have yelled at them. They apologized and offered Zizou a little treat. Geez, how could he eat when he had almost been eaten? So, she gave it to her dog - good job! Reward your dog for attacking my dog!!! After I check him for blood or broken bones, I answered their questions that "yes, alle ist OK - er ist OK." They apologized again and took their stupid dogs away down the trail. The young boy with them, picked up my glove out of the mud and handed it to me, I grabbed my basket off the ground, and I went on my way. I made it about 25 yards down the trail, sunk down onto the nearest rock and started crying. I was shaking all over and was now snotty too. I debated about just going home but decided the best thing was to forge ahead. I clipped his leash on - I'll never take it off of him again as I may need it to lift him to safety - and continued towards town.

About ten minutes later, we came upon a little old lady walking her dog (about the same size as Zizou). She asked if he was a male or female as her dog was in heat. I informed her that Zizou was male but that he didn't have ... (didn't know that word in German but she filled it in for me) ... er ist castrated. Yes!!! She realized I spoke English and, speaking English fluently herself, I poured out my near-disastrous tale. She pulled out some pepper spray and urged me to buy some. Even though most German dogs are very well trained, some are not (as I found out today).

The rest of the morning was fairly uneventful. After shopping, we rode the train back home. Zizou came away from the experience unscathed physically but I've already noticed he is more nervous (like when we arrived in Germany). Hopefully, this will wear off quickly. He was already playing with his ball when we got home - so back to normal.

Here is a link to the webcam down at the Oberursel Market. There isn't much going on there during the week usually but the market is every Saturday morning. Who knows? You may see me there! http://www.hohemark-apotheke.de/webcam_marktplatz/index.html