Doggy Drama

Our neighbors have a Rotweiler named Mandy who just had a litter of 3 puppies. Their family is caring for them for 7 weeks before returning them to the breeder as payment for Mandy. Samuel is definately the animal lover among us. Jordan and I have our favorties, but we're pretty content without a pet (I'm sure that will change one day). I was always a bit fearful of animals as a child, especially dogs, maybe because of their unpredictability, I don't know, but I remember how scared I was everytime I had to babysit for a family that had a Rotweiler. It seems silly that I was so terrified of the dog, especially looking at Mandy who seems perfectly fun loving. But this family I looked after had 4 rambunctious boys, and they could get down right wild. What the boys would call harmless play, resembled more of a scene out of the "Lord of the Flies." So combining their antics and quest for chaos with the instincts of their dog/horse made for a fight of which I was the constant loser. It always amused me that the Mom would often apologize for what a handful her boys were, with no mention of the "elephant in the room" so to speak. Even when she'd be going through the typical emergency numbers & dinner routine, this dog would be running at full speed in circles around the house, knocking over everything in it's path. I tried to act normal as everyone else thought it was perfectly ordinary & I vowed to toughen up. That didn't last long because seriously one night when the boys got him all riled up, he came after me! I was so freaked out, I thought I was going to die. He was running wildly through the house, barking & growling, when he turned his sights on me pinning me up aganist the couch. I'm sure he sensed my fear so fighting him off only made him more aggressive. The boys kept reassuring me he was only playing, but it was hard to take any solace since they were all on the floor with injuries from the dog's rampage. Oh and the boys thought this was all very funny! Anyway, after they boys pried him off of me & took him outside, I vowed never to babysit again. Of course that didn't last long either, because at 15, one thing you don't ever do is pass up an opportunity to make 20 bucks :)