Dogs & Drivers: A Runner’s Worst Nightmare

Today’s post is a public service announcement from your pissed off, friendly neighborhood runner! It’s really quite simple…

Keep your dogs on a leash or behind a fence!

Keep your eyes off your phone and on the road!

There! I said it! My blood is boiling just thinking about a few close calls that occurred on my runs this week, which then of course triggered memories of countless unpleasant encounters I’ve had with dogs and drivers over the years.

Twice I’ve been bitten by dogs, both times only two miles from my house and both bites required stitches. The first time, I got bit by a dog who was usually tied up.  I knew by the way he barked at me and practically hung himself trying to lunge at me when I ran by though, that he would bite me if he ever got the chance. As fate would have it, one day he was running around his yard with his family, which unfortunately didn’t stop him from charging across the road to sink his teeth into my ankle. Seeing his giant jaws wrapped around my ankle was like an out of body experience. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I ended up running home, bloody ankle and all, then going to the ER to have the puncture wounds treated. To add insult to injury, the dog was unvaccinated which made the whole process of dealing with police and the county health department one I could have lived without.

The second bite occurred at the end of my road (which I’ve run a million times), so when I saw two dogs crashing through the woods toward me I stopped dead in my tracks. I was relieved when I heard the owner up ahead calling to them, but they were way more interested in me. Most of the time when I’ve encountered dogs like this, it turns out they just want to run alongside me, and that was the vibe I felt when they got close. They didn’t bark or growl, they just ran around me excitedly. But all of a sudden I felt a sharp sting right behind my knee. It took a few seconds before I realized I had been bit.  There was a nice sized puncture wound that eventually required heavy duty antibiotics because overnight the infection spread 13 inches up my leg. 

During cross country practice one day my son was bit on a road that we often run. Two smaller dogs started chasing him and at first he thought they just wanted to run with him. But then he felt the sharp sting of his teeth. The bite barely broke the skin but still drew blood. Thankfully, this didn’t require medical attention, but it definitely instilled a fear of dogs in both of us. 

It’s not very encouraging that in all three of these encounters, the owners were close by yelling at their dogs to come back but obviously none of them listened. I have a dog that used to do the same thing — he’d run out into the road, get in the way of the school bus or join anyone walking down the road. However I did the responsible thing and installed a wireless fence so he could no longer get loose. I never used to be afraid of dogs, but now I get completely freaked out and it’s always in the back of my mind whenever I run. 

Today my son passed me running in the opposite direction and warned me of two dogs loose in a nearby yard. I’ve run past this house a million times and never had an issue. In fact I rarely ever see dogs at this particular house. Yet there they were, loose in the yard, and once they spotted me they sprinted towards me. For a moment I thought I’d make it past without them approaching further. But there must have been something about me because the dog crossed the road and began to bark and growl, the fur on his back standing up straight. He didn’t come within striking distance, but I also couldn’t continue on. So for five minutes my son and I stood there trying to get him to retreat to no avail, the entire time unsure of his intentions. Finally the owner came out, the dogs finally backed off, and she waved with a halfhearted sorry because I had obviously inconvenienced her.

I could ramble on and on with stories about other dogs my family and I have each encountered, some friendly who just want to join in on the run, some who excitedly jump up to play and leave us with scratches, others who just bark and act like they want to rip us apart but thankfully stay in the yard. I find none of these scenarios cute and what makes it even worse is when an owner laughs it off and says “Oh, he won’t bite“. Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. I live where it’s very rural and I like to let my dog enjoy the outdoors and woods just as much as anyone else. But it seems like lately there are an increasing number of dogs everywhere I turn, and most of them scare the crap out of me. Tie up your dog, leash them, train them or install a fence (which by the way doesn’t work if you leave the gate open or don’t fix the holes in it!). Just  DO SOMETHING so I can run by without worrying about being ripped to shreds! 

Not only are dogs (and their owners)  a source of my frustration lately, but so are drivers! (Does that just mean that everyone annoys me lately?) The other day as I was running up my road (a very rural dead end),  I was forced to jump in the ditch as a Jeep barreled down the road and swerved directly at me. He was clearly distracted as so many drivers are nowadays. I can’t even begin to count the number of drivers I see on every run, looking down at their phones. I’m sure most people are good at heart, but I’m sorry, if you are on your phone while driving, you are being an asshole. I’ve seen way too many distracted drivers get way too close and it cannot be justified. My kids and I run these roads. There are sports teams who train on the roads. People should be able to run, walk or bike on the road without the nagging fear of being attacked by a dog or hit by a car. It’s our responsibility as runners to be alert, be visible (I like to wear obnoxiously bright and unmatching colors) , run on the correct side of the road facing traffic and stay as far over on the shoulder as possible. I do my part diligently. Even when I’m driving and see a pedestrian I move over as far as possible and slow down so they know I see them and am not a threat.

Isn’t it common sense? Do I really have to say “Don’t  let your dog bite people and don’t run people over in your car!”  Apparently that message hasn’t gotten through to the folks in my neck of the woods, and it frustrates the hell out of me! 

It’s time for my rant to come to an end, but before I leave you please consider these stats before you let your dog run loose or pull out your phone while driving:

 *According to allpetslife.com nearly 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs every year in the US. Of those, 800,000 result in need for medical care. (I unfortunately account for two of those)

 *According to an article on cnbc.com, US pedestrian fatalities have increased 41% since 2008 and now account for 16% of all traffic fatalities.

 *According to the New York Times, crashes killed more than 6700 pedestrians in 2020. 

 *According to a Road ID study in 2016, 122,000 runners get hit by cars every year.

In short…do your part and don’t be an ass.

Rant over…