When we woke on Saturday after such a foggy Friday, we were thrilled to once again see brilliant sunshine. The temperatures had warmed a bit and the winds were quiet. It was time to drive down to the beach parking area once again for a last walk.
Being a Saturday on a three day weekend, the beach was already filled with people and dogs by the time we arrived around 9. We had Mattie on a leash, but some people didn’t follow the rules and big and little dogs were running free everywhere. One dog especially was a problem.
The owner of the dog told us that his dog didn’t like other females, but he didn’t leash her. She was an older chocolate lab and we avoided them as we walked in a different direction. We didn’t realize that he and his dog were coming our way until it was too late, and the big brown dog that was off leash came after Mattie. It was too fast for us to pick her up which we try to do in these situations. Instead, as the dog was attacking Mattie, I tried to push the lab away with my walking sticks as the owner came over trying to control his dog. She wasn’t paying any attention to him but finally she backed off. In the mean time, he started yelling at me saying I had no reason to beat his dog!! Right!! Am I supposed to just let my dog get injured??
I lost my temper, and yelled at him to get that dog on a leash! I was so furious and my adrenalin was so high I yelled at him that I would beat him if I had the chance, along with some choice colorful words. He said, “Yeah right”, but at least he didn’t come after me. I was ready to light into him physically whether he killed me or not! Don’t make an old lady with a cane angry.
It took awhile for my adrenalin rush to ease as we continued our walk toward the jetty. The ocean was wild and the waves were huge and finally that inner shaking settled down as we watched the drama unfolding along the jetty.
People were walking along the edge of the rocks as the waves crashed over the sides of the jetty. I heard one guy tell another one, “Hey Buddy, don’t be walking on that jetty today”. Sneaker waves that sweep people away are notorious is this part of the Oregon Coast.
It was a lovely walk and by the time we got back to the car the bad guy with the mean dog was gone. I was grateful for that since I had no more adrenaline for another confrontation.
We took our time packing up the rig, thinking we had until 2 PM to check out. I thought it might be nice to get some photos of the rest of the campground in the sunshine. As I relaxed in the MoHo working on those photos in Lightroom I suddenly saw a photo I had taken of a sign that said “Check-out at Noon”.
Oops!! It was 11:45. We had the MoHo packed up, unhooked, slides in and jacks up and Tracker attached in 15 minutes.
Our drive home over the coast range was gorgeous, with brilliant sunshine the entire distance. We traveled Highway 42 again toward I-5 and then south toward home. It was lovely driving in good weather and the weekend traffic was very light. Delightful! We fueled again at Seven Feathers to beat our Grants Pass prices and pulled into the driveway around 4 PM. A perfect ending to a very nice getaway.
We enjoyed the beach and the campground was nice, but after our experience with all the people and dogs we decided that limiting our adventures to Oregon State Parks would be a bit safer for all of us.
So happy Mattie wasn't hurt. That would of had me beating the owner but good and his dog.
ReplyDeleteOther than that looks like a beautiful place.
It's so infuriating when people don't keep their problem dogs leashed! When Emmi was a baby we were boondocking outside Overton, Nevada. We went for a walk, heard some guys yelling and saw a pit bull on a dead run at us. I grabbed Emmi, Mike wrapped his arms around both of us so Emmi was inside--the pit bull was jumping up on us, snarling at Emmi. Thankfully it didn't attack either of us. The owners finally got their butts over there and said, "it's a good thing you picked up your dog, our dog would have probably killed it." I was furious and yelled at the guys, "well, it's a good thing your dog didn't hurt mine because I would have had to shoot it and probably you too! Get your damn dog on a leash if you can't control it." Any time I'm out walking Emmi now I am armed both with my walking stick and a pistol in my pocket. We are fortunate that this neighborhood in Arizona doesn't have dogs running loose.
ReplyDeleteI will hopefully remember to take my dog taser with me from now on in places like this, but it happens so rarely I forget to bother with it. Scary story. We know of someone in an RV park who had a dog torn from their arms and nearly killed that way. Another guy on the beach said picking Mattie up was dangerous, but what the heck are you gonna do? Let the dog kill yours? I think not
DeleteGlad everybody is/was okay. Bet that adrenalin coursed through your body off when you crawled in bed that night, remembering. I would've been hiding behind Jimmy because, as you know, I'm afraid of dogs, especially loose dogs. Nice that you could get away for a couple of days again. I am SO ready to take off (where are those vaccine doses?).
ReplyDeleteYes, Nickie, getting away to the beach has been our salvation during these times. Pretty sure you in California are getting your doses before we get ours here in Oregon. Your numbers are higher so your state got more vaccine I guess. Oh well, we have managed this far we will continue to stay isolated and safe and just go to the beaches.
DeleteOh how absolutely awful for poor Mattie. Don't you wish one of those sneaker waves would come up and take that guy out to sea. How totally and completely irresponsible. Were there no officials anywhere around that he could be reported to? I can imagine how you felt and totally understand how you reacted. So irresponsible to leave a dog you know doesn't like other dogs female or not off leash.
ReplyDeleteI particularly like your two opening pictures and the one of the rocks with the waves smashing up on them. I could never even dream of packing up my RV in 15 minutes. It takes me all morning to get everything put away inside and out unhooked and all the other stuff.
Yes, well hopefully that helps, but in this case I am pretty sure it wouldn't have mattered since the rules weren't clear I guess.
ReplyDeleteAhh, Sherry, a small rig and a big rig are a lot different when it comes to packing up, for sure. Especially since we aren't full time we don't have as much stuff to worry about. And nope, there was no one around to report to. Probably why there were so many dogs on that beach. It was a BLM area and a lot more freedom there than in the state parks.
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