We bought a German Shepherd puppy before we had kids.  I had two of these dogs when I was young.  One became a leader dog for the blind.  The other had more aggressive tendencies.  After school I would take this dog for a “walk.”  I was young, and we went behind my school to run on the track.

One hot day, we ran together several times around the track until I was too hot, too winded to do so.  He sat with me in the shade of a tree and I rested while he panted.  Suddenly, he stopped panting and pitched up his ears.  His eyes riveted on a man running on the track.

I saw him, and I took a hard grip on his chain collar and leash.  I told him:  “NO!”  He looked at me, perhaps mistaking my word for “GO!”  He lunged against the collar and leash and the collar gave way in my grasp.  I was amazed at his strength, and horrified at his speed.  He took off around the track with the jogger in his tractor beams.  The poor man picked up his pace once he saw my dog closing in on him.

I ran across the field to intercept my dog. I had only a leash in my hand.  The man stopped jogging once he saw that I had stopped my dog.  I had to wrap the leash around the dog’s neck to hold him.  He then sat and began panting.  I apologized for my dog’s behavior.  The jogger dropped to his knees to catch his breath.  My dog and I walked home.  We bought a certifiably stronger choke chain, and my dog and I continued our “walks.”

We never saw the jogger again.