So The Walk Got Cut Short By A Dog Attack....

So I haven't posted since the first of the year.  Today I was wondering what I could post since nothing has really happened.  I wished I had something to post about.  I shouldn't have.  I should have just been grateful for the uneventful new year.
On our walk tonight around a neighboring suburb I spotted an off-leash husky type dog.  And as soon as it saw me spot it, it 'went low' into an aggressive, lethal crouch on the sidewalk across the road.  I said, "Oh shit."  Chris turned and saw, too.  I was scared.  I've seen this intense focus, and it is never, never good.
Lady spotted her, too.  Her hair went up, but her tail was wagging in a sort of 'new friend!' excitement.  She was getting very excited.  I was trying to contain her, get her back to calm and non-instigative.  When I turned back the dog was crouched about twenty feet in front of us in the road.  Now I was really freaking out. 
I heard a whistle and a high school girl came out of a house up the road, calling the dog's name.  She seemed just as scared as I was.  Nervous.  She should have had control over her dog.  She didn't.
The dog, Tessa, came closer, right up to Lady.  I was trying to pull Lady back.  Usually when stupid off-leash dogs come up to us on walks the first thing I do is grab the dog's collar so that they can't jump on Lady (who is still in rehabilitation from her surgery in August), run off, or into the road as the owner approaches.  This dog was different. 
In a flash the dog was biting Lady, trying to jump on her, there was growling and barking and yowling and I was just screaming "NO! NO! NO! BAD DOG!"  I was not going to let this happen.  The girl started running towards us.
Tessa broke away as the girl approached and tried to reach for her.  Tessa snapped at her, tried to bite her.
I was glad I had not tried to grab her collar.
The girl said, "This is bad.  She is not a good dog." Oh great.  An aggressive dog.  This has happened before and they've done nothing.  They let her off-leash, somehow.  How much more irresponsible can you get?
Then Tessa turned on Bentley.  For whatever reason, maybe becasue he's young, or male, she did not try to attack him, thank God, but she got pretty close.  I probably would have done something I would regret for a very long time if that tog had even touched my baby with aggression.  I was still reeling from the attack on Lady.  I saw no blood on the snow and took it as a good sign.
The dog took off, the owner chased it.  Chris and I stayed where we were, hoping not to lure the dog away from the owner.  She just kept saying "I'm so sorry.  I'm so sorry. Tessa! Tessa!" Every time she'd get near her the dog would take off.
Eventually the dog ran the other way, away from us and not in circles around us.  Chris and I slowly walked back the way we'd come, looking over our shoulders the whole way.  About four blocks past where we'd been I stopped and checked Lady more thoroughly.  Not a mark on her.  Adrenaline and rage are still coursing through me.
If anything had happened that resulted in injury to one of my dogs I would have taken all of the legal steps I could.  I am so sick of these irresponsible people and their dogs. The ones who don't pick up after their dogs.  The ones who let their dogs off-leash.  The ones who do not respect my wishes when I ask them not to approach with their dog.  I hat living in the city where there are so many dogs.  Now I feel like I can't walk my dogs anywhere.  I can't walk them around my complex becasue of all the dogs here, and now I can't walk them through that suburb because I don't believe in getting burned twice. 
Don't get me wrong.  I love dogs.  I love them.  There is no such thing as a bad dog, just a bad owner.  But there is a line, and that dog crossed it tonight.
Those people are so damn lucky that neither one of my dogs got hurt.
And so am I.

Oh Happy Day!

Today is 1/1/11. 
That hasn't happened in 100 years!  I think this may be the first time that there is no snow on the ground for the first day of the New Year in Michigan!
It's a new year!  Gyms all across the country are going to be packed to the max today!
Turn the page on the calendar!  No, scratch that!  Throw out the calendar and put the new pretty shiny one up!
Bentley is being  a good little New Year's puppy.  He is entering the second year of his being!  He has only ever experienced 2010, but now, there are new things to experience in 2011!
But, of course, he doesn't care.
As long as he still gets to keep all of his Christmas toys.