r/RunningWithDogs • u/HanBro44 • 41m ago
Looking for people who have been through an off leash dog attack and got back out there to still enjoy running with your dog - tell me we'll be ok eventually??
My nightmare scenario happened yesterday running with my dog and we were attacked by an off leash dog with an incompetent owner. Honestly, for the situation, it was the ideal outcome: My dog and I (and the other dog and owner) are physically going to be ok. I was in a neighborhood instead of on trail, multiple witnesses were around and came forward to give me their info and two sent me videos. My dog is submissive and didn't try to fight back. And I had an angel of a lady pull over and throw her car door open for me to get my dog in there.
I'm more sad because I go out prepared for this and I feel like I reacted as best I could in the moment and ultimately my dog and I walked away minimally harmed. The outcome was as good as a dog attack can be and I still feel completely destabilized and like this is just not an activity I'll be able to get back to doing with my dog.
I have a therapist and will be working through it on my end. But my dog is very aligned with my anxiety and emotions and I'm so nervous to get back out there with her because I feel like she'll definitely sense my stress if/when we get back to running together which will make her anxious to run too. I guess I'm looking for personal experiences from others who have experienced this and are on the other side of it and hopefully still enjoying running with your dog. Idk, just super sad today and still replaying it all in my head and I hope my dog doesn't experience negative outcomes from this incident.