My Two Cents: So, You Had a Bad Day...

When I heard the scream, I reluctantly turned around to look while at the same time trying to prepare myself for what I might see.

"What the..."?!!!!

All I could think to do was run toward that big black Labrador with the huge ferocious fangs and my five pound Yorkshire Terrier, screaming, from inside of his mouth.

We had just arrived for what was supposed to have been a friendly-and-uneventful-farewell-to-summer-neighborhood-barbecue, when all of a sudden I found myself bear hugging a man-size dog, hoping that he would somehow be persuaded to pick on someone his own size - while all of my neighbors looked on.

While I was not at all amused by the idea that I had now become the entertainment portion of the evening, I was downright annoyed that my dog Jake had been mistaken for DINNER by one of the hungry guests.

There are those occasions in life, let's face it, when something happens that forces you to have to think and act quickly and at the same time; when you don't have the time or the luxury of following the rules of Cesar Millan. This was one of those times.

My gut instinct was to get my dog out of that Labrador's mouth ASAP and "by any means necessary"! As Jake's entire life flashed before my eyes I knew that if I failed to act quickly and instinctively this would not end well at all. If I succeeded in following my gut however, we'd all have a drink in a minute and laugh this whole thing off.

I was grateful that I had the presence of mind (and one brave neighbor who fearlessly helped me to pry Jake loose) to follow my instincts. I was relieved that we did drink that night and we did laugh -- mostly about how I had just been bear hugging that big angry dog.

That's my two cents (for whatever it's worth).

Auguste Roc
auguste@danaroc.com