A Scary Incident..Nicky and a GSD

I had a very scary situation happen yesterday after work. I was out in the back yard taking Nicky (Pom) to potty and we never usually leash him because he won't run off. Nicky sticks to us like glue so we could walk him all the way around the block, if we wanted to, without leashing him. So, letting Nicky out in our little back yard without a leash has never been a big deal. You get the point. There is a wall in the back and on top of the wall is another set of apartments. Here is a picture. This is an 8 foot wall..it's pretty high off the ground. I'm 5'3" and if I stretch my arm up, I can't touch the top of the wall.
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l118/mahealani404/Wall.jpg

So, when Nicky ran out into the back yard to potty, I noticed a group of young kids (ages 8-12) on top of the wall, standing in the yard on the other side of that fence that you see in the picture and they had a GSD on a leash. I got nervous because the dog immediately perked up his/her ears when it saw Nicky and started to whine and buck a little bit. It was obvious that they couldn't control the dog and were way too young to have the dog outside by themselves, but at that point in time, they weren't allowing the dog to move. I continued towards Nicky, just in case I would need to grab him and pick him up. I ended up with my back to the wall, the dog, and the kids and before I could pick Nicky up, all I heard was running and loud breathing. Within SECONDS that GSD JUMPED off of the 8 foot wall and down to our level, and was on top of Nicky before I could blink.

Some of you know that I'm TERRIFIED of large dogs ESPECIALLY GSDs because I was attacked by one when I was 12 and almost had my arm ripped off. This all happened within 10 seconds of walking outside with Nicky..I mean it was extremely fast. Instead of Nicky heading towards me so that I could grab him, he headed the opposite way towards the apartment so there was nothing I could do to help him. He kind of jogged instead of bolting so it's like he wasn't afraid, but he knew he wanted to get into the apartment. I was frantic and screamed for Danita, who was inside, while running after the GSD. However, it took me a few seconds to move as I was paralyzed with fear. My adrenaline kind of kicked in and then I took off after the dog. It was too late though. The GS had his/her face/muzzle on top of the back of Nicky's neck the whole time they were running, so if it wanted to, he/she could've killed Nicky instantly. I'm not sure what the hell the dog was trying to accomplish, but it looked like they were stuck together all the way to our apartment door, where my partner Danita was standing as she heard me screaming my head off for her to help me. So I'm screaming, the kids are just standing there watching the whole thing go down, and Nicky pranced right into the apartment with the GSD attached to his neck. The GS stopped just before the front door, Nicky went in, and I ran passed the dog and inside. Danita was yelling for the kids to come get their dog and gave them a piece of her mind...then I walked back outside and gave them a piece of mine, while choking back the tears.

I made sure Nicky was ok and then threw myself down on the floor and fell to pieces. I have never felt more out of control of a situation that I needed to be in control of. I saw my little boy's life flash before my eyes as I stood helplessly by doing NOTHING while paralyzed with fear. I cried for hours thinking of what could've happened and over the fact that I couldn't protect him like a Mother should. The point here is, I will NEVER allow Nicky off leash again, simply for his own protection. I never want to feel that helpless, afraid, and useless...again.
Look at his little face!!! :yell:
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l118/mahealani404/GoodBoy.jpg

Mahealani , I'm so sorry :grouphug: the gsd seemed to just wanted to play/smell Nicky. I don't get how parents can leave kids with a dog outside, when they know the kids don't have control of the dog. Thank dog the GSD wasn't a mean dog ! So I know you are still in shock, is Nicky all right ?

Aw Mahealani, I feel so bad for you. I'm sure you were more scared than Nicky was. He didn't over react. If he had tried to snap at the GSD the other dog may have reacted, but Nicky did good! You did okay too, don't get me wrong. It's entirely possible the GSD did not have bad intentions, sometimes they're just curious. Of course your past history doesn't help you with this type of situation. It must have been awful for you. It may sound strange, but is it possible to go and meet the GSD with it's adults and see what he's really like in case you meet again??? You know, you say never off leash again, and it reminds me of all the terrors there are out there for little dogs, because I've heard of a few cases where little dogs were snatched by large birds of prey. One lady had her Chi snatched while walking it, and the dog was on leash and this Falcon had hold of it. She swung the bird and dog into a wall and the bird dropped the dog - who was unhurt. So not to scare you further, but maybe a leash is still a good idea. You're such a good mommy Mahealani.:grouphug:

Awww, I am so sorry you had such a terrifying experience.

It sounds like you (and Nicky) did the very best you could. Thank God everything turned out ok. :grouphug:

Do you know who the parents of the children are? There is no way children should be left to supervise any dog they cannot control.

Awe, thank you ladies so much for your comments and support. And yes, Nicky is fine. He acted like nothing even happened! He just pranced right into the arms of his other mama like any other day! lol I'm the one that needed comforting. I was hysterical. Feeling and/or being shown that you can't protect your little ones is the WORST thing in the world, besides losing one.

I definitely never want to be out of control of a situation like that again. I didn't realize just how deep my love and devotion runs for Nicky until I thought he was going to be ripped from my life yesterday. It took me hours to stop crying.:sad:

I'm horrified at that story about the bird trying to snatch the chi!!! :eek: OMG! How terrible!! Nicky is about 13 pounds (possibly a mixed breed but we're not sure) so it may be difficult for a bird to come along and snatch him..at least I would hope.

It may sound strange, but is it possible to go and meet the GSD with it's adults and see what he's really like in case you meet again???

I don't know, DogDancer, neither of us have EVER seen that dog before so apparently he/she doesn't see the light of day much. Maybe it was just a visitor? I think if I were to see the owners, someone would have to hold me back. There is NO reason to have children try and be responsible for a GSD! How negligent.

Anyway, thanks again for your concern. I appreicate it. :cloud9: :grouphug:

whew! I'm so glad you and Nicky are okay! :eek: Sounds scary...but likely the GSD didn't have anything bad in mind. Probably just bored of being with the idiot kids :frustrated: and wanted some intelligent company! :D

Still, it's enough to really jump-start the heart, isn't it? :o And then all the 'what-ifs' that come to mind afterward :grouphug:

Just glad you're both okay! :grouphug:

Glad everything turned out okay. You must have been soooooo scared:grouphug:

Pretty scary situation, especially when you've had a bad thing happen before.

:grouphug:

I'm so sorry, Mahealani! That must have been so scary and traumatizing. :sad: :grouphug: Even when you haven't been attacked before, a large dog coming after your dog totally out of control is a scary thing. I'm glad everything worked out. :o :grouphug: I'm glad your woman handled it well, too. Parenting is a team effort and where you come up short, the other parent takes over. That's ok, especially considering what happened when you were young. :) :grouphug: It's ok. :grouphug:

I'm glad both of you are alright physically but emotionally this was hard on you both and I am sending all of you a hug. As the owner of three GSD's two:rip: and one who thinks she's a lap dog I am always careful with them. Not everyone is comfortable with dogs and as leader of the pack I choose who they meet. No dog should ever be alone with children and Gsd's need a strong leader. The owners of this dog are at fault not the dog and they need a warning maybe not by you but animal control. I am just glad that you are fine physically but vent all you want as this is scary mentally especially for someone in your condition. It is not bad dogs that are the problem but BAD owners.

Sorry to hear what happened.it's good that neither of you were hurt.it sounds like he wanted to play ben is like that with our shih tu.but she puts him in his place.kids should be unsperviced with any dog large or small.